David Weldon: “the Gekas amendment will insure the American people against a government shutdown in the event the President and the…”

“the Gekas amendment will insure the American people against a government shutdown in the event the President and the Congress reach an impasse on the budget. The funding level of 100 percent of last year's funding will ensure stability until a final budget is worked out. Last year's government shutdown wasted billions of dollars. We paid thousands of Federal employees who did not work during the shutdown. I say we should keep them on the job to start with. The Gekas amendment is the only way we have to guarantee this. There is no reason, there is no commonsense reason for voting against this amendment. Finally, some say it is not appropriate to add it to the CR for natural disaster relief. I think this is the most appropriate place. This CR will help us avoid a man-made disaster, a government shutdown on September 30 of this year. Also, I would like to point out to my colleagues from Florida and the Gulf Coast, September is the hurricane season. The only thing worse than a hurricane is a hurricane during a government shutdown. Let us insure ourselves against a double dose of disaster. Support the Gekas amendment.”