It's time - End the Shutdown and Pay our Debts

By Michael Kelly, Communications Director Fifteen days and counting. Unless Republicans in the House are determined to break the record for longest shutdown in history (21 days in 1994) then it's time to get something done. Because, beyond the impacts of having the "cops" off the the beat - the agencies that are supposed to protect our health, environment, food, and communities - people are out of work. The most vulnerable Americans aren't able to access vital programs like WIC and Head Start. Companies, and their employees, who rely on federal contracts are losing money. Scientists who are study the glaciers and permafrost in Antarctica to help us understand the impacts of climate change are on hold and may lose an entire year's worth of research. the impacts are real and this is embarrassing. It has to stop. It’s time for the shutdown to end with the only credible solution - a clean budget bill that opens the entire government, not parts of it. It’s time for the thousands of Environment Protection Agency, and hundreds of thousands of other federal employees, to get back to work to protect our water, our health, and our environment. Finally, it’s time for our elected officials to pay our nation’s debts and find a balanced path to end sequestration and fully funds agencies that protect our communities. EPA employees have already been furloughed for too long. Vital rules to restore Clean Water Act protections to small streams and wetlands, end power plant water pollution, and drastically reduce climate change emissions from coal-fired power plants are on hold. Important research is left undone and EPA officials may be slow to help states respond to spills and other environmental disasters. Even before the government shutdown EPA had been operating at reduced funding levels due to sequestration. Sequestration has reduced funding for cleanup at superfund sites and for drinking water monitoring while subsidies for oil and gas companies remains in place. State officials who rely on EPA expertise and funding to implement and enforce our most basic environmental protections have faced delays and the shutdown has only made that worse. With a deal on the shutdown imminent in the Senate, it falls to the our representatives in the House to get agencies like EPA, the Department of the Interior, and the Food and Drug Administration back to work. Congress must end the shutdown and move on to fully restoring the devastating cuts from sequestration. The question is - will the House continue to play chicken with our economy, our environment, and our communities?