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Washington D.C.- House Democrats missed another opportunity last night to end the threat of a government shutdown by rejecting an amendment by Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL), a member of the Republican Study Committee. The Feeney Amendment, which would have extended a continuing resolution (which keeps the government functioning) until September 30, 2008, was rejected by the Democrat Majority Rules Committee. The continuing resolution being considered by the House today would only keep the government functioning until November 16 of this year, extending the threat of a government shutdown.
“Rightfully, hardworking American taxpayers expect lawmakers to do their jobs and at the minimum keep the government running while making sure their hard-earned dollars are spent in a responsible and efficient manner. I'd like to say I'm shocked that Democrats would not even consider my amendment to keep America up and running, but given their broken promises on transparency and accountability, this hardly comes as a surprise,” said Feeney.
The President and the Democrat Congress remain $23 billion apart on the FY 2008 appropriations bills. As part of a broad effort to restore fiscal accountability to Congress, the Republican Study Committee has worked with President Bush to uphold a Presidential veto of spending bills that greatly exceed the President’s budget request. Congress is headed for a difficult series of discussions on government spending in the months ahead. Instead of such discussions being based entirely on the merit of the funding itself, Democrats continue to force the debate under the threat of a government shutdown.
“Even though the President has made clear that he would not condone such reckless spending, Democrats have once again made clear that they will continue to threaten to shut down the government to get their reckless spending increases.” said Republican Study Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX). “Mr. Feeney’s Amendment would have alleviated the threat of a government shutdown and allowed straightforward, merit based budget negotiations between the two parties. It is a shame that it was rejected without even being considered by the House.”
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