Congress has so much left to get done – not only passing our 12 funding bills but working on legislation to lower the cost of prescription drugs for Americans, secure our border, fix our crumbling roads and bridges, rein in out of control spending, and so much more. Instead of staying to get the work done, Speaker Pelosi is giving members a six-week legislative recess – leaving Congress just 13 legislative days to fund the government when we return. Not only that, she even made us leave a day early! This comes after weeks of political posturing, causing legislative productivity to come to a near standstill. This is unacceptable when Congress’ to-do list is ever-growing.
For months leading up to this date,
I urged leadership to cancel our annual August recess and keep the House of Representatives in session so that we can complete the work of the people.
Even though we are in recess, I will not stop my work to help my constituents in the First District. I am working to increase access to high speed internet, ensure veterans receive the benefits they deserve, promote career and technical education programs, cut the red tape hurting our businesses, and get our fiscal house in order.
We absolutely must take tangible steps to reduce our deficit and debt. This week, I voted against a budget bill that will raise spending caps above current levels by over $300 billion and temporarily suspend the debt ceiling. The federal deficit for the fiscal year 2020 is already set to hit a staggering $1.10 trillion. To make matters worse, this budget agreement will add nearly $2 trillion to the federal debt over the next 10 years. We have a lot of work to do to get this fiscal crisis under control and to make sure we don’t burden future generations; it should not be their job to clean up this mess.
While we can certainly start with eliminating duplicative programs, wasteful spending, and fraud, if we don’t address the broken budget and appropriations system producing these spending deals, we won't ever solve this problem. Returning to regular order will go a long way towards bringing transparency back to the budget and appropriations process. However, this requires holding Members of Congress accountable. I have three bills to achieve this: the No Budget No Pay Act that withholds Member pay if a budget isn’t passed by April 15; the Stay on Schedule Resolution that requires the House to stay in session through August – which many Members use as vacation – if all appropriations bills are not passed by the end of July; and finally the Inaction Has Consequences Act that withholds Member pay if all 12 appropriations bills are not completed by the end of the fiscal year.
We need to cancel August Recess and bring members to Washington to complete the work of the American people. I’m prepared to stay in Washington as long as it takes; these issues are too important to delay.
