DeLauro Statement on Bill That Moves America One Step Closer To A Republican Government Shutdown

WASHINGTON, DC—Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) released the following statement on the latest GOP proposal to create a Republican Government Shutdown. The House of Representatives is expected to vote on the legislation later this evening.

"I am strongly opposed to this plan that continues to drastically underfund the fundamental priorities of the American people, and tries – yet again – to delay families' access to affordable health care. We do not have time for this sort of recklessness.

"Both the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned us early in the year that the automatic cuts could cost us as many as 750,000 jobs in 2013. Now the Majority wants to make these cuts permanent, regardless of the jobs lost, damage to our economy, or harm to working families across the country. 

"Even the Chair of the Appropriations Committee has said ‘sequestration – and its unrealistic and ill-conceived discretionary cuts – must be brought to an end.'  But this plan does exactly the opposite. It aims to make these dangerous cuts permanent, and to make them the ceiling for any future budget negotiations.

"We are moving in the wrong direction. We are mortgaging our future as a nation.  We are setting ourselves back. We stand on the verge of a government shutdown. But, instead of behaving responsibly and working towards a reasonable compromise, the Majority is continuing to put radical ideology above the fundamental priorities of the American people. This is wrong and I hope my colleagues join me in supporting a responsible approach to avoiding the Republican Shutdown."


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