Local representatives react to potential end of federal government shutdown
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- It has been 41 days since the federal government shut down because Congress could not pass a continuing resolution.
It is the record for the longest shutdown in history.
On Monday evening, the U.S. Senate voted to approve a continuing resolution by a vote of 60 to 40, just barely clearing the filibuster.
Now the U.S. House must approve that same bill before it can head to President Trump’s desk to reopen the government
Both Republican Senators from Tennessee, Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, voted for that resolution.
Senator Blackburn in a statement blamed Senate Democratic minority leader Chuck Schumer of New York for the shutdown, saying that he was pushing for quote, “wasteful far-left spending”
Meanwhile, both of the Democratic Senators from Georgia, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, voted against the continuing resolution.
Senator Warnock in a statement said he voted against it because quote, “it doesn’t provide relief to the 1.2 million Georgians who are about to see their health care premiums double and more.”
Representative Chuck Fleischmann says he plans to vote for the reopen the federal government to reopen.
He says in his view that Senator Schumer showed poor judgment.
Rep. Fleischmann said. “It was a political calculus and he guessed wrong. I don’t mind him guessing wrong about his political calculus, but the Democrats got nothing out of this agreement. The reality is, they hurt the American people.”
He says that he wants to see a bill be enacted to prevent future shutdowns.
Rep. Fleischmann said, “I am going to begin working on a way to make sure that this never happens again. We need a bipartisan, Republican and Democrat, House and Senate Bill, to make sure we never shut the federal government down again. It’s very easily accomplished. If you don’t have a deal done by September 30, when October 1, it automatically parlays under this bill that there would be a continuing resolution in place to keep the federal government running.”
One area the Congressman says he is going to focus on as we get closer to those appropriation debates, is more funding for the ongoing Chickamauga Lock project.
Rep. Fleischmann said, “I have a $261 million infusion of funds for the Chickamauga Lock project, which was fully funded several years ago. The contractor ran into some problems. They need that money.”
The congressman believes that the House should vote by Wednesday afternoon at the latest.
