Nita Lowey: “Without question, every Member of the House should support providing a death gratuity for family members following the…”

“Without question, every Member of the House should support providing a death gratuity for family members following the death of service personnel. The majority is once again proposing an approach that addresses today's problem but leaves the overarching crisis before us unresolved. Major gaps in capabilities remain with neither a fully functioning national defense nor a fully functioning Federal Government. The Republican shutdown and piecemeal plan is damaging to the Department of Defense: it hurts our credibility with our allies; reports from the Asian-Pacific Economic Forum suggest that the shutdown raises questions about U.S. political stability and plays into Chinese and Russian foreign policy objectives; and the Army Chief of Staff has said the shutdown is harming readiness. Even if Republicans' irresponsible piecemeal bills were enacted, at the rate they are going, it would take until after Christmas before the government is fully up and running. We could end the shutdown today if Republican leadership would allow a vote. Democrats have negotiated. We didn't just meet in the middle; in fact, we agreed to the Republican spending level in the stopgap bill. How many more times will the majority discover an unintended consequence before they come to their senses and allow a vote to end the reckless Republican shutdown?”