House Republicans Drive Straight to a Shutdown

Press Release

"I am bewildered by how Republicans' recklessness promises chaos and a series of government shutdowns at the beginning of next year. They wasted the entire first extension finding a new Speaker and attempting--often failing--to pass partisan bills rather than working on full-year bills that could become law.

By adopting the Freedom Caucus's extreme "laddered CR' approach, Speaker Johnson is setting up a system that will double the number of shutdown showdowns. As last week made clear when they wasted time debating two spending bills that were so appalling that they had to remove them from the floor to avoid failing on final passage, House Republicans cannot enact their radical agenda. Their attempts to further their extreme goals of making abortion illegal nationally, eliminating public education, disarming Americans in the face of the climate crisis, and making sure billionaires and tax cheats escape paying taxes have done nothing but increase the likelihood of a shutdown. In a time of global crisis, we should promote stability, not chaos.

The bill also does nothing to help our allies. It does not include any emergency assistance for Israel, Ukraine, Indo-Pacific partners, humanitarian aid, or disaster victims. Even worse, at a time when the Departments of State and Defense need to quickly respond to global crises, House Republicans would put them under a CR for nearly two months.

It is irresponsible to kick the can down the road for several months--keeping government services frozen--and hope that our challenges go away. We are nowhere closer to a full-year funding agreement than we were at the end of September. Congress must avoid a shutdown and pass a CR that facilitates enacting full-year spending bills and emergency assistance as soon as possible."

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