Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Bryan Steil (WI-01) voted again to fund the federal government and end the ongoing shutdown. This action follows more than 40 days of opposition by Senate Democrats, who refused to support the clean CR passed by the House of Representatives, causing a lapse in appropriations. This was the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. After the vote, Steil issued the following statement:
“There was no reason our government should have shut down in the first place. Weeks ago, I voted for legislation to fully fund SNAP, pay our service members, and reopen the federal government. Unfortunately, Democrats in the Senate fought for over a month to keep our government shut down, causing chaos for working families,” said Steil. “Now, Congress must act to fix the broken process and pass the Eliminate Government Shutdowns Act. We need to end the brinksmanship in Washington and remove the potential for future government shutdowns permanently.”
Background:
Today, the House voted to pass H.R. 5371, a clean CR to fund the federal government, for the second time. This resolution now heads to the President for his signature.
The House previously passed H.R. 5371 on September 19. Until this week, nearly every Democrat in the U.S. Senate voted 14 times against the continuing resolution, causing the shutdown.
As a result of the shutdown, members of the military, federal law enforcement, and federal employees, including air traffic control, were not eligible to receive pay.
Important programs like SNAP were also not funded during the lapse in government appropriations.
Steil had his pay withheld during the ongoing federal shutdown and introduced legislation to withhold pay from members of Congress in the event of a shutdown.
Steil also introduced the Eliminate Government Shutdowns Act, legislation to reform the appropriations process through an automatic two-week clean CR, ending the possibility of a federal shutdown.
