Guest AuthorStop me if you’ve heard this one before: A critical deadline approaches in Washington. The American people expect Congress and the White House to listen to their concerns, acting decisively and crafting a solution that represents their values. Instead, as the clock runs out of time, some D.C. politicians focus more on scoring political points than on heeding the will of the people they represent.
Unfortunately, history has repeated itself once again as the federal government partially shut down last Monday at midnight because the House and Senate were unable to agree on a continuing resolution to fund the government for the next fiscal year.
Making matters worse, some in Washington seemed to think the shutdown was a necessary price for the nation to pay so they could protect their own special subsidies under the health care reform law. These special exemptions, which help members of Congress and their staffs defray the costs of coverage under the 2009 law, have only reinforced the American people’s frustration with a system that provides one set of rules for them and another set of rules for their elected leaders.
Shutdowns. Special exemptions for Congress. How did things ever get to this point?
The widening divide on the health care law started when the president issued special delays for big corporations and labor unions to comply with the law. Then the president’s Office of Personnel Management exempted members of Congress, their staffs, and even the Obama administration’s own executive branch employees from losing their health care subsidies. And what about average Americans? No delays. No exemptions.
When some in Washington weren’t ready to give up their health care exemptions, they decided instead to stop negotiating as the shutdown deadline drew near. In the House, Republicans worked through last weekend to find a solution to the impending standoff, while Sen. Harry Reid closed down the Senate for the weekend and House Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi flew home to California. In a last ditch effort to bring the sides together, House Republicans called for a conference committee between the House and Senate, a traditional means by which representatives of both chambers sit down together and iron out policy differences before sending a single piece of legislation to the president for his signature. Reid’s Democratic majority in the Senate rejected that effort.
I joined my House colleagues in approving four separate resolutions funding the government and ensuring that vital services remained uninterrupted. All of those resolutions were voted down by the Senate, as well.
Left literally without a willing partner on the other side of the negotiating table, the House continued to move forward with its own positive agenda reflecting the will of the American people to end this interruption in vital services and level the playing field between members of Congress and their constituents.
First, I introduced a continuing resolution that would have averted a government shutdown and eliminated the special subsidies for members of Congress and their staffs. I am pleased that our provision to eliminate the controversial health care exemptions was approved by a bipartisan majority of the House.
I also believe it is time for Congress put its money where its mouth is. That’s why I co-sponsored the Government Shutdown Fairness Act, to withhold the paychecks of members of Congress for as long as the government shutdown remains in effect. Hard-working families and job creators across Florida’s Second Congressional District are facing economic uncertainty from the shutdown, and it should be no different for members of Congress
Despite the Senate’s refusal to act, I believe the House still has a responsibility to work for an end to this standoff and fund the vital services left in limbo by the shutdown. As Tropical Storm Karen strengthened in the Gulf of Mexico, the House voted to ensure that FEMA’s federal disaster relief was funded. Despite the threat of a presidential veto, 23 House Democrats joined us in backing disaster relief funding.
The House also ensured that active duty military would get their paychecks in full, that veterans benefits would remain in place and that cancer treatment research funding would be protected. The House has an obligation to continue doing its job — voting to methodically and responsibly to fund the government one sector at a time — until the Senate shows a willingness to act.
To restore that trust with the American people, we must start by ending this shutdown and eliminating the special privileges provided members of Congress under the health care law. Those two goals are not unattainable. I learned long ago in my family’s funeral home business that healing starts with something as simple as a conversation.
