OMB Memorandum on Operations During a Potential Lapse in Funding

Floor Speech

Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Speaker, I would wholeheartedly concur with the preceding speaker that we need wisdom, we need guidance. We don't want to shut this government down, and certainly we don't want to play politics--at least many of us--with our constituents' services.

Sadly, we've seen too many pictures of that in recent days with the memorials and monuments being chained off. That's wrong.

This morning, my staff and I came across a document from the executive office of the President's Office of Management and Budget with a Q&A dealing with planning for agency operations during a potential lapse of appropriations:

Question: What if the cost of shutting down a Web site exceeds the cost of maintaining services?

Answer: The determination of which services continue during an appropriations lapse is not affected by whether the costs of shutdown exceed the costs of maintaining services.

Mr. Speaker, that gives me concern. Indeed, the sites that we've checked on like the National Park Service, NASA, E-Verify, and the Department of Agriculture have been shut down for political purposes. That needs to stop.

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