In this week’s Speaker Alert we’ll update you on Senate Democrats’ government shutdown, and ongoing efforts by House Republicans to reopen the government and provide fairness for all Americans under the president’s health care law.
The House of Representatives passed four bills to keep our government running and treat all Americans fairly under ObamaCare (which has been plagued by “stumbles,” “glitches,” “crashes,” and “meltdowns”) – all of which were rejected by Senate Democrats. The Senate even opposed a request for a formal conference committee and refuses to appoint negotiators to meet with the House.
Since the Senate won’t negotiate, the House passed eight other measures over the last few days to fund critical services – veterans benefits, cancer research, emergency and disaster recovery, paychecks for our National Guard and Reserve, nutrition assistance for low-income women and children, and more. The House also voted to open our national parks and museums.
Unfortunately, Senate Democrats are blocking these bills – one Democratic leader openly balked at the bill providing funding for cancer research. And President Obama issued several veto threats, even though he signed a similar bill paying our troops and President Clinton supported similar legislation in the 1990s.
The Obama administration says it “won’t negotiate” with Republicans either – “we are winning,” the White House told the Wall Street Journal, and "‘it really doesn’t matter to us’ how long the shutdown lasts.”
But “this isn’t some damn game,” said Speaker Boehner. “The American people don’t want their government shut down and neither do I. All we’re asking for is to sit down and have a discussion and to bring fairness - reopen the government and bring fairness to the American people under ObamaCare. It’s as simple as that. But it all has to begin with a simple discussion.”
You can see a running tally of all recent House-passed government funding bills at speaker.gov/senatemustact. We’ll be adding more in the days ahead.
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