Missouri Senator, Claire McCaskill, issued this response today:
Subject: Reply from Senator
McCaskill
November 13, 2013
Dear Ms. Brown,
Thank you for contacting me regarding the
government shutdown and our nation's debt limit. I appreciate hearing
from you, and I welcome the opportunity to respond.
Funding the services and operation of the
federal government and paying our bills on time are among Congress' most
important and fundamental responsibilities. Americans expect Members of
Congress to find compromise solutions while keeping the government open for
business.
As you know, members of the U.S. House of
Representatives refused to pass legislation to fund the federal government
without including specific ideologically driven policy conditions known to be
unacceptable to the President and the Senate, causing a government shutdown
from October 1 through 16, 2013. The Members who supported this shutdown
held the federal government hostage to an assortment of demands including
dismantling of the Affordable Care Act. These Members blocked an
up-or-down vote in the House of Representatives on a "clean" funding
bill free of such policy riders, which had passed the Senate and was widely
reported to have adequate support in the House if a vote would have been taken
on it. During that time, nearly 40,000 federal employees in Missouri were
out of work, benefits for Missouri's veterans were delayed, vital loans for
small businesses were sidelined, Social Security checks failed to go out to
seniors enrolling in the program for the first time, and parks and offices
across the state were closed.
An initial analysis by Standard &
Poor's estimates the 16-day government shutdown cost our nation's economy $24
billion and reduced economic growth in the fourth quarter of the year by 20
percent. It is completely unacceptable that some in Congress were willing
to disrupt vital services and jeopardize our economic recovery to further their
political ideological agenda. I am disappointed that these lawmakers were
unable to see the value of compromise solutions to our nation's fiscal challenges.
Many of these same lawmakers also
irresponsibly threatened to allow our nation to default on its debt obligations
by refusing to increase the debt limit. To be clear, raising the debt
limit does not authorize one dime of new spending. Rather, it allows our government
to pay for spending that has already been approved by Congress and sustains our
nation's full faith and credit in the global economy. Refusing to raise
the debt limit would have caused abrupt, devastating economic consequences
worldwide and at home.
On October 16, 2013, with my support, the
Senate passed H.R. 2775, a bipartisan agreement to reopen the government and
allow the U.S. to continue to pay its obligations. The bill continues
funding at Fiscal Year 2013 levels through January 15, 2014 and suspends the
debt limit through February 7, 2014. It also requires House and Senate
budget negotiators to work to reach an agreement on overall spending by
December 13, 2013. I sincerely hope that this bipartisan measure can be a
blueprint for future cooperation and compromise. Congress must put aside
partisan differences and end the eleventh-hour stalemates, which endanger our
economy, hold the interests of the American people hostage, and undermine our
nation's financial credibility.
As we move forward, I am anxious to get
back to work on the things that really matter to Missouri families - like
expanding job opportunities, fixing our crumbling infrastructure, and making
college more affordable. But, we are only going to achieve those goals through
negotiation, compromise, and moderation.
Again, thank you for contacting me.
Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I can be of further
assistance to you on this or any other issue.
Sincerely,
Claire McCaskill
United States Senator
United States Senator
P.S. If you would like more information
about resources that can help Missourians, or what I am doing in the Senate on
your behalf, please sign up for my email newsletter at http://mccaskill.senate.gov.
