RepublicansRefuse to Allow Vote on Clean Senate Bill

Statement

On Friday, the US Senate passed a short-term funding bill to keep the government running while both parties continue to negotiate spending levels for the upcoming fiscal year beginning on October 1. Instead of immediately bringing that bill to the floor of the House of Representatives, House Republicans chose to add partisan provisions to the bill which have been rejected by the Senate and which President Obama has threatened with a veto.

The deadline to pass the temporary spending bill, known as the Continuing Resolution, is Monday, September 30, after which if no government funding bill is signed into law, the United States government will shut down.

Congresswoman Niki Tsongas voted against the Republican-altered versions of the CR.

Congresswoman Tsongas released the following statement.

"The House had an opportunity to prevent a government shutdown by passing the Senate's clean version of the Continuing Resolution, enabling both parties to use the coming months to arrive at a balanced, long-term budget solution.

"Instead, Republicans favored partisanship over the health of the U.S. economy, backing the nation's fiscal strength into a corner and offering no viable way out. This is as close to a political temper-tantrum as you can get; an immature political stunt that would be laughable if it didn't have very real, very serious consequences for millions of Americans.

"Instead of working across the aisle to end the harmful sequester cuts, implement and fine-tune the Affordable Care Act, and responsibly reduce the deficit in a balanced way, the House voted on a bill that ignores the dangerous impacts of blind, across-the-board cuts and undercuts the health and wellbeing of the American people.

"I firmly believe a solution is still possible but the doors to Congress need to be open in order for us to get there. The altered CR sends the government hurtling for a shutdown, which will put hundreds of thousands of federal employees out of work, impact the daily lives of millions and hit the pause button on our country's economic growth.

"There is room for a balanced approach to deficit reduction that combines targeted spending cuts with new revenue sources, just as every bipartisan group that has looked at this problem has suggested. In the coming days I will continue to work closely with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to keep the government running and keep us moving forward to a long-term solution."

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