Amid the shocking news of Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner’s October resignation, the likelihood of a government shutdown in two days appears far less likely than it did a week ago. On Sunday, Speaker Boehner said that the House will take up the Senate’s bill for a clean continuing resolution (CR), which would fund the government through December 11, 2015. The Senate advanced their funding bill yesterday, setting up a likely House vote on a clean CR for Wednesday.
While this news brings a temporary sigh of relief to NFFE-IAM members and hardworking federal employees across the country, this merely kicks the can on what remains a likely contentious funding battle. Adding to the uncertainty of the funding dispute is the battle among the House GOP to select their new leadership team, including the next Speaker of the House, in the wake of Speaker Boehner’s resignation. With the GOP holding the majority in the House, the GOP controls the legislative agenda. And with Speaker Boehner’s resignation, the extreme wing of the House GOP could choose a leadership team that is more willing to plunge the government into a shutdown as a way to send a partisan message, similarly to the tactics used in the disastrous 2013 shutdown. Speaker Boehner was largely the figure in GOP leadership that was advocating against using a government shutdown as a political tactic.
No matter the outcome of the GOP leadership election, NFFE is working with our allies to protect the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. In addition to fighting to keep federal agencies and departments adequately funded, NFFE is working to mitigate the negative effects of a shutdown, should one occur.
“We are pleased that the likelihood of a government shutdown has diminished over the last few days,” said NFFE National President William R. Dougan. “But we are not out of the woods yet. NFFE will be working tirelessly in the coming weeks to protect federal employees, American taxpayers and the U.S. economy from the effects of another disastrous shutdown.”
NFFE has fought against a government shutdown every step of the way