FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Almost 25 Republican state attorneys general are urging Senate Democrats against shutting down the government so the “hard-working Americans” they represent don’t lose their paychecks.
“As September 30 draws near, we urge you to prevent a government shutdown by immediately
passing the clean, short-term funding extension that passed the House of Representatives,” the letter sent to senators on Monday afternoon says. “The lives of hard-working Americans in every state depend on your putting partisanship aside to pass this budget extension before the looming deadline passes.”
Government Shutdown AG letter finalDownload
If the Senate doesn’t pass a continuing resolution to fund the government by midnight Wednesday, the government will shut down, leading to federal employees not being paid, as well as interruptions in some government services.
Republicans will require at least seven Democrat votes in the Senate in order to end debate and bring the stopgap funding bill to the floor, which would itself buy less than two months for more long-term negotiations.
In order to vote for the CR, Democrat leadership are expected to demand an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies that expire at the end of 2025.
The Republican attorneys general slammed Democrats for passing 13 clean funding extensions under the Biden administration but refusing to comply now.
“In fact, only weeks ago, Democrats were pressing for just this yet again – a clean, short-term continuing resolution to keep government working while Congress negotiated the budget,” the letters said. “But now, at the eleventh hour, that is apparently not enough, and Democrats are holding all of government hostage, seeking a $1.5-trillion ransom, laden with poison-pill riders and partisan policy initiatives.”
While CRs may not be the ideal way for governments to operate, it would give parties more time to negotiate, according to the attorneys general.
“This commonsense option keeps the servicemen and women, border agents, and TSA screeners
who keep us safe paid,” the AGs said. “It keeps grant funding for state and local law enforcement and first responders going. And while Social Security checks would still be mailed out in a shutdown,
benefit verification and card issuance would pause, affecting seniors in potentially dire ways.”
“A government shutdown would disrupt our economy, threaten public safety, and further erode the
people’s confidence in public institutions, but all of that is entirely avoidable,” the letter says.
Passing the short-term, clean CR provides an opportunity for responsible budgeting, according to the AGs.
“We represent the same hard-working Americans you do,” the letter says. “Failure to pass a clean, short-term continuing resolution – no poison pills, no gimmicks – before midnight on September 30 will
cause them real pain. They deserve to be treated with greater respect than this.”
Led by Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, Attorneys General from the following states joined the letter: Mississippi, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.
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