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It’s Showdown Time! Government Shutdown Comes Nov. 16
co-written with Rep. Jeb Hensarling, chairman of the Republican Study Committee |
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September 28, 2007 - At the stroke of midnight Nov. 16, congressional Democrats will force a government shutdown unless Republicans agree to pass a raft of bloated, pork-laden spending bills. Democratic leaders have already admitted that they have no intention of finishing their appropriations bills by the Oct. 1 deadline, when the fiscal year ends.
That is by design.
In January 2007, Senate Majority Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., argued in favor of the threat of a shutdown on the Senate floor: “If there is anything we need, it is the pressure to finish on time.”
The “pressure” that our colleague is referring to has been used to great effect over the years to ram inflated spending bills through at the last minute. When faced with the prospect of voting for a bill with too much spending or voting for the only alternative — government shutdown — lawmakers are put in a box.
Especially in a time of increased fiscal strain, this pressure must be relieved so that members of Congress can make sober, levelheaded decisions about national spending priorities.
The Democrats plan to drag their feet on appropriations bills in order to pass a giant catch-all spending bill at the last minute, which is unacceptable.
Admittedly, Republicans as well as Democrats have been guilty of this tactic in the past. But if there is anything the American people made clear in the 2006 midterm elections, it was that business as usual in Washington must end.
For our part, the Republican Party has recognized our complicity in Washington’s failure to lead. Our party is returning to its core principles, and one of those is fiscal responsibility. We believe that the impending Democrat-induced government shutdown is a clear case of business as usual, and we intend to do something about it.
We introduced “The Government Shutdown Prevention Act of 2007” in hopes of reaching a compromise with Democrats that will head off the impending fiscal train wreck.
It is clear that the Democrats want more spending in appropriations bills for their priorities. Republicans, on the other hand, want to ensure that the tax dollars sent to Washington by American families and workers are spent responsibly and accountably.
As both parties work toward their goals, it is right to provide members of Congress with the breathing room needed to make good decisions and to work well with each other. Our bill does that by ensuring that the entire government will be funded at current levels in the event that Congress misses its deadline. This funding remains in place until Congress passes new spending bills.
The American people sent us to Congress to make sound decisions about what to do with their hard-earned tax dollars. We owe it to them to release the pressure in this powder-keg Congress.
Big spenders in Congress should not be allowed to hold others hostage until they get their pet projects. Yet this is exactly what the Democratic majority is doing.
After promising in 2006 to be fiscally responsible if elected, it is now showing its true stripes.
The Democrat spending proposals this year are already a whopping $23 billion more than what the president has requested. Of the 12 House-passed bills, the president has been forced to issue veto threats on nine of them because they are so fiscally reckless.
Congress is headed for a difficult series of discussions in the months ahead. These discussions needlessly will take place amidst the threat of a government shutdown unless Democrats join Republicans in adopting this sensible approach.
If Democrats refuse to join us in this compromise, there should be no doubt about who is to blame if we reach the sad point of government shutdown.
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| 28th - |
current Press Release |
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