From Congress Bill Flores
“. . . we are fighting to create a less costly, more efficient, and more accountable federal government. . . “
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON, D.C. – The primary topics on most Americans’ minds at this time are the federal government shutdown that began on October 1st and the debt ceiling deadline on October 17th. In this newsletter, we will start by discussing what House Republicans are fighting for with respect to these two issues. We will also discuss what caused the shutdown, the actions taken by the House to prevent it and to reopen the government, the timeline of recent activities, and the potential paths forward. In addition, we will discuss The American Health Care Reform Act, a Conservative alternative to Obamacare. We are also announcing that we started accepting nominations for the TX-17 Congressional Veterans Commendation award.
What We Are Fighting For:
Simply stated, we are fighting to stop or reduce the adverse impact of Obamacare on hardworking American families. In addition, we are fighting to create a less costly, more efficient, and more accountable federal government. We are also fighting to reform federal government programs so that we can balance the budget and reduce the impact of a growing federal debt on our children and grandchildren.
A large majority of Americans are against Obamacare. They want it stopped, and if not stopped, they want it delayed in whole or in part. In addition, if it goes into effect, over 90% of Americans think that leaders in Washington should be subject to Obamacare. President Obama must at least partially agree; because even though he lacks legal authority to do so, he has already unilaterally waived nearly a third of the law, carved out over 1,200 special waivers and exemptions for corporations and his political allies. In addition, he has delayed significant portions of the implementation of Obamacare and he protected Congress from the full impact of this law by giving them subsidies that were not included in the original law.
In contrast to President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Republicans remain opposed to Obamacare and will continue to try to stop the law, even if it takes months or years. In the meantime, we ask two simple questions—first, why not delay Obamacare for one year for everyone; and second, if this law is not good enough for the president and Congress (without subsidies) for their health coverage, why should any American be subject to it? Our fight over the Continuing Resolution (CR) is about more than funding the government, it is also about priorities. In order to do this, we have included two provisions with the latest CR (1) to delay the Obamacare “Individual Mandate” for a year (just like the one-year “Employer Mandate” delay that the president gave to corporations) and (2) to force Congress and elected and appointed White House personnel to be subject to Obamacare just like all other Americans. Our belief is that if the president thinks that Obamacare is good enough for all Americans, then he and the vice-president should have been the first two persons to sign up for it on October 1st.
No House Republican supported a government shutdown. Between September 20th and early October 1st, the House passed four CR’s to fully fund the government at levels similar to those included in the Budget Control Act of 2011 (i.e., at “post-sequester” levels). Each of those CR’s was rejected by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Democrats and the federal government shutdown.
In addition to the actions that the House is taking to address federal funding for fiscal year (FY) 2014 (started October 1st), we are working on solutions to deal with the upcoming debt ceiling deadline. We believe that our country’s future will be hurt by ever increasing levels of debt and we remain focused on reforms to address all federal spending so that we can get the federal budget on a path to balance in 10 years. During the last few weeks, the president has repeatedly said that he will not negotiate on the debt ceiling and that he wants a “clean” debt ceiling increase. Two key factors stand in the way of his desires—first, the Constitution clearly points out that the authority to deal with the debt ceiling belongs to Congress, and second, almost 60% of Americans do not want the debt ceiling increased without meaningful spending reforms. Accordingly, the House is committed to deal in a mature, responsible manner regarding the debt ceiling and we have pledged to include spending reforms and economic growth reforms in any legislation to increase the debt ceiling for more than a few weeks.
What Caused The Shutdown:
Each year Congress passes appropriations bills to fund the federal government for the next fiscal year beginning on October 1st. Under a process known as “Regular Order”, each of the House and Senate pass those appropriations bills, each of which is intended to fund specific parts of the federal government. Following passage of those bills by each chamber, the bills are reconciled, passed, and sent to the president to be signed into law.
This year, over the course of the spring and summer, the House Appropriations Committee worked diligently to draft and to consider appropriations bills for fiscal year 2014 (beginning October 1, 2013). In addition, the full House passed a number of those appropriations bills.
Unfortunately, as October 1st drew closer, it became obvious that the Senate would not pass ANY appropriations bills for FY 2014. This behavior has been the pattern of the Senate for the past several years. Noting the Senate’s inaction on this important Constitutionally required function, the House immediately began working on a CR to fund the government for a short period while all parties worked together to develop a longer term funding solution and to deal with the upcoming debt ceiling. On September 20th, the House passed its first CR to fully fund the government and to defund Obamacare; the Senate rejected this CR. The House then passed the same CR, but with a provision to delay all of Obamacare instead of defunding it; the Senate rejected this CR. Still trying to avoid a government shutdown, the House passed the same CR, with a provision to delay only the Individual Mandate section of Obamacare for one year and to require that Congress and senior White House personnel be subject to Obamacare like all other Americans. The Senate also rejected this CR a few minutes before midnight on September 30th and the government shutdown due to the lapse in appropriations for FY 2014. Even though it was now past midnight on October 1st , the House tried once again to reopen the government by passing the immediately preceding CR with the two Obamacare provisions and with a third provision to call for the House and Senate to immediately appoint negotiators to attempt to deal with the differences between the two bodies. The Senate rejected this CR mid-day on October 1st.
House Actions To Reopen The Federal Government:
After the Senate killed the fourth CR from the House, House Republicans began to work to reopen the federal government through a process similar to the “Regular Order” process discussed above. We are doing this by passing a number of small appropriations bills, each of which is intended to reopen specific essential parts of the government. As of the end of today, the House has passed 16 of these bills, including a bill to pay our military men and women during the shutdown period. These bills are discussed in more detail in the Timeline section below. Fortunately, the military pay bill was passed by the House and Senate with support of Republicans and Democrats and has been signed into law by the president. In the aggregate, the bills that have passed represent over 1/3rd of the funding levels included in the original House passed CR’s. It is interesting to note that over 25% of House Democrats have supported one or more of these small appropriations bills. Even though each of these House appropriations bills have passed with bipartisan support, the Senate has failed to act on any of them (except for the military pay bill and military family benefits bill, which they passed).
Senate Actions To Reopen The Federal Government:
It is interesting to note that while the House was busy working over the last two weeks to get essential parts of the government funded and reopened, the Senate took minimal actions—such as to designate October 7th -13th as “National Chess Week” and the second was to set “rules pertaining to individuals operating commercial motor vehicles with sleep disorders.” As noted above, under the leadership of Senator Reid, the Senate has rejected all but one of the House appropriations bills, and they are refusing to even negotiate with the House on any issues of importance to hardworking American families.
