Congress Needs To Act By Midnight To Prevent Government Shutdown

Congressman Don Manzullo has joined his GOP colleagues in passing legislation to continue paying America’s armed forces throughout the rest of the year while cutting another $12 billion and keeping the government open for another week while negotiations continue on a longer-term spending bill.

The Senate must approve the bill and the President must sign it into law by midnight Friday to prevent a government shutdown that would force our military forces to continue working without pay. Under a shutdown, U.S. armed forces would stay on the job with other “essential” federal employees but they wouldn’t get paid until legislation was signed into law to re-open the government.

“I implore Senate Majority Leader Reid and President Obama to act quickly on this legislation so we can avert a government shutdown and continue to pay our armed forces,” Manzullo said. “Our brave fighting men and women are risking their lives overseas every day to protect our families and freedoms back home in America, and they shouldn’t have to worry about whether their families have the money they need to pay the bills.”

On the longer-term measure, Manzullo said he is still waiting for the Senate to join the House in passing legislation to fund the government for the rest of the year. The House voted in February for a spending bill that cut $100 billion from the President’s request.

“The Senate and the President need to accept reality that we need to significantly cut spending. Our annual budget deficit is approaching $1.6 trillion this year, the national debt will surpass $14 trillion, and we are borrowing 42 cents on every dollar we spend,” Manzullo added. “The interest we pay on the national debt is in the hundreds of billions of dollars each year, and this spending path is unsustainable.

“We are in this mess because the Democrats failed to pass a budget last year when they controlled the House, the Senate, and the White House. You can’t run a household without a budget.  You can’t run a business without a budget.  And you can’t run a government without a budget. The Senate needs to join us now and significantly cut funding so we can avert a shutdown and ensure our brave fighting men and women continue to get paid.”