Ernest Istook: “I rise to support the Gekas amendment. Many of us are saying we do not want to use any threat of shutting the Government…”

“I rise to support the Gekas amendment. Many of us are saying we do not want to use any threat of shutting the Government down. Now we hear people saying, ``Oh, you have got to try to do it.'' That does not make sense. Some of us, and I am one of them, want to reduce spending in the Federal Government. Some people want to increase the size of Government and increase the amount of spending. These are very difficult to resolve when we are tens of billions of dollars apart. We are saying while we try to work things out, we would agree we would just freeze spending while we try to work in good faith. They say, ``No, don't, you've got to shut government down instead.'' How ridiculous. It cost taxpayers $1.5 billion the last time around, workers being paid for a month that they did not do the work. The taxpayers were hurt heavily in the process. Federal workers were in jeopardy. Why go through such a thing? We are trying to say we do not want to have such a threat hanging over things. We want to work together in good will. Why in the world would some Members say ``No, we don't want to do it?'' Support the amendment.”