Niki Tsongas: “The Federal Government is shut down today for one reason: we in the House have been denied any chance of voting on the…”

“The Federal Government is shut down today for one reason: we in the House have been denied any chance of voting on the clean funding bill passed by the Senate. Four times now, House leaders have demanded that we dismantle a democratically enacted and Supreme Court-upheld law as their ransom, but not once have they allowed us to vote on the Senate's bill. This recklessness has real consequences. At military installations in my home State of Massachusetts, thousands of civilian employees who support our Nation's servicemembers have already weathered furloughs. Now they and their families are being punished yet again. The path forward is clear: vote on the Senate-passed CR and send it to the President today, put the government back to work, negotiate on a long-term budget, and work together to fine-tune the Affordable Care Act. With yesterday's opening of the exchanges, we saw the tremendous need and response. I urge the Speaker to do the responsible thing: bring us a vote on a clean funding bill. ____________________”