House Republicans Use April Fool's Day to Play Joke on Constitution

Press Release

Despite new figures that showed 216,000 jobs added last month and the unemployment rate at a two-year low, House Republicans today continued their ideologically driven crusade to blunt job growth.

The House used April Fool's Day to pass the laughably titled, "Government Shutdown Prevention Act." This "bill" decrees that absent a budget compromise, the House Republican budget (HR 1), which includes 1,000 layoffs at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), will take on the force of law. This "bill" conveniently ignores Article 1, Section 7, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution, which states: "Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the President of the United States…"

"It is the ultimate act of hypocrisy that a Congress which began with a reading of the Constitution has produced a bill that most 3rd graders would recognize to be unconstitutional," Congressman Tim Bishop said. "Instead of working towards a bipartisan compromise and job creation, House Republicans are throwing an ideological temper tantrum."

Congressman Bishop reacted positively to the Department of Labor's March jobs report which found the economy added 230,000 private sector jobs, making up for a 14,000 job decrease in government employment. The report marks the 13th consecutive month of private sector job growth.

Unfortunately, the legislation which the House Republicans want to take on the force of law - HR 1 - has been estimated by several private analysts to have a devastating impact on the labor market. On Long Island, its immediate impact would be approximately 1,000 lost jobs at BNL due to massive cuts to the Department of Energy's Office of Science. The legislation also contains massive cuts to education, student loans, and veterans programs.

"We need to compromise on a reasonable budget that makes responsible cuts and protects programs that strengthen our jobs recovery," Congressman Bishop said. "Unless someone can tell me how Suffolk County's economy is improved by firing 1,000 workers at Brookhaven Lab, I will fight this proposal vigorously."

Bishop expressed strong support for a provision in the bill that would bar Members of Congress and the President from being paid in the event of a government shutdown, and is a cosponsor of legislation to that effect. Today, he voted to pass a version of the pay provision already adopted by the Senate, and send it to the President's desk. Unfortunately, that motion was scuttled by near-unanimous Republican opposition.

The bill passed today contains a pay provision with different wording than the Senate version, preventing it from going to the President. As the Republican pay provision is packaged with unconstitutional language unacceptable to the Senate, it is another symbolic effort that has no chance of becoming law.

"The majority won't even allow the House to hold a clean vote on something we all support," said Bishop. "Regardless, I am absolutely opposed to Members drawing pay if the stubbornness of the House majority leads to a shutdown of our government."

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