Democratic Congressman Frets Over Potential Government Shutdown
Republican-led House left DC with most federal funding still undone
Just months after they nearly took the nation over a financial cliff for the federal debt ceiling, House Republicans could be at it again with a potential government shutdown, a Democratic congressman warns.
The Republican-led House left town last week for its August recess with most federal funding legislation left in limbo.
The trouble seems to be among Republicans, who were unable to pass an agriculture funding bill as hardline conservatives pushed for deep spending cuts that even some members of their own party balked at, and moderates expressed concerns over a controversial provision related to abortion.
But with little time remaining on the legislative calendar when lawmakers return, the real potential grows for a shutdown of the federal government, a Democratic congressman from Colorado warned.
Unless Congress approves — and President Biden signs — legislation to fund the it in time, the federal government will have to close much of its functions for the first time since 2019 when Donald Trump was president.
“It’s clear that in Washington, D.C., the extreme wing of the House Republican Caucus has taken power. They have taken control. And yeah, they are unabashed, as I said about wanting to shut down the government, notwithstanding the disastrous consequences it would have for the American people,” said Rep Joe Neguse. “I was sworn into Congress the first time in 2019, during what became the longest government shutdown in the history of our country. It is terribly destructive for our economy, for the many individuals who rely on any number of key governmental services.
“You think about the literally hundreds of thousands of air traffic controllers and federal employees who were out of work for over a month and a half, bringing our economy to a standstill, it very well could be cataclysmic, and it’s an outcome that we should avoid,” he added. “But as I said, many House Republicans would like to shut down the government. They’re making the affirmative case for doing so. I think that’s deeply problematic.
“And unfortunately, there’s no grown up in the room, right, that one would expect, typically from the speaker of the House or Republican leadership to be able to tell their caucus that they have to do the right thing,” Neguse said, criticizing a lack of leadership on the part of Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. “That simply is not the case in this modern iteration of the House Republican caucus, unfortunately.”
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