Bob Wise: “I want to congratulate the American citizens and taxpayer who have been ringing the phones off the hooks of a lot of…”

“I want to congratulate the American citizens and taxpayer who have been ringing the phones off the hooks of a lot of Members of Congress who believe it is ridiculous to keep this Government shut down over this dispute. Now, just so everyone understands, people are being paid not to work. Now they get to go to work but they cannot do their work. At least that is partial victory. This puts Federal workers back at work getting paid so they can make their car payments, heating bills, their mortgage payments, tuition payments, buy some groceries. But why not the whole Government? Why not put the whole Government back to work and let them actually do their job? Yes, this does cover railroad retirement. Yes, it covers Meals on Wheels, passport services, veterans benefits. That is the good news. But what about the areas that it does not cover? Federal workers who will not be able to do the toxic waste cleanups, the environmental inspections, who will not be able to make the small business loans, issue the export licenses, or pay vendors who provide Federal services. What about the West Virginia Legislature which has to meet next week? What kind of budget does it put forward with this kind of resolution? What it means is it is going to have to guess and make supplemental State appropriations to cover what the Federal Government should be covering. Yes, I am going to vote for this because it is a partial opening.”