Conyers: House Leadership Is Advancing Socially Divisive Issues At the Cost of Economic Welfare

Friday, April 8, 2011
Conyers: House Leadership Is Advancing Socially Divisive Issues At the Cost of Economic Welfare

Washington, D.C. – Today, Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) issued the following statement calling for the Republican leadership to abandon its pursuit of a divisive social and political agenda, come to the table, and work with Democrats to prevent a shutdown.

The American people want us to act to create jobs and strengthen our middle class, not shut down the government, deny public services taxpayers have paid for, and jeopardize our economic recovery.

What we are witnessing today in Washington is profound irresponsible brinksmanship being engaged in by House Republicans. Their indefensible decision to put partisan politics above the good of the country has brought us to the point where we risk furloughing over 800,000 federal workers, sending our troops into battle without a paycheck, and limiting the access of millions of Americans to critical government services.
I am committed to responsibly reducing the deficit and keeping the government open, but Republicans are pushing an ideological social agenda that is threatening a government shutdown.

President Obama and Senate Democrats have demonstrated their clear willingness to do what it takes to avoid a shutdown – meeting House Republicans more than halfway on spending cuts; but GOP leaders have refused to sign onto an agreement. Yesterday, House Democrats tried on three separate occasions to pass a short-term spending bill to keep the government open while talks continued. House Republicans stopped each attempt dead in its tracks. And today, we gave them another opportunity that Republicans rejected.
Shutting down the government has real consequences for America’s workers, businesses, and communities. Social Security applications would go unprocessed, veterans would lose access to health and financial services, and troops’ pay would be placed on hold. Health services, including disease surveillance, disease hotlines, and cleanup work at toxic waste sites, would pause. Passport applications would go unprocessed; national parks and museums would close; and taxpayers could potentially lose hundreds of millions of dollars. Overall, independent analysts have estimated that any shutdown will impact our economy, and one lasting more than a few days could slow our growth over the long term – severely undermining our ability to extend our recovery and put people back to work.

In these final hours of government funding, House Republicans continue to advance socially divisive issues at the expense of the country’s economic welfare. If a shutdown happens, it’s because House Republicans, the party of “no,” refused to say “yes” to the American people.