Republican
freshmen urge House to avoid government shutdown
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[September 24, 2015]
By David Lawder
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Eleven first-term
Republicans in the House of Representatives on Wednesday appealed to
party colleagues to back away from a threatened government closure on
Oct. 1, citing concerns about the political and economic costs of such
an action.
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The 11 freshmen, who are not aligned with the party's far-right
Tea Party faction pushing for a shutdown, wrote an open letter to
other Republicans urging support for a budget patch that would avert
a shutdown, at least for a few weeks.
"We are writing today to express our strong support for a funding
resolution that will avoid another unnecessary and harmful
government shutdown," said Ryan Costello, Elise Stefanik, Mimi
Walters and eight other signers of the letter.
Congress is close to the brink of another possible shutdown because
conservative House Republicans have vowed not to support any federal
spending plan that provides continued taxpayer support for Planned
Parenthood, the women's healthcare group.
Congressional Democrats and President Barack Obama support the
group, which has been under fire for weeks over allegations that it
improperly sells aborted fetal tissue.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Sep/24/images/ads/current/charrons_bch041713.png) The group has said it has done nothing wrong and has blasted a
series of accusatory videos, secretly filmed and posted online by an
anti-abortion group, as unfair and deceptive.
The federal fiscal year will end in one week and Congress must act
to keep agencies funded and operating.
The first-term lawmakers said they would support a short-term
funding bill that would buy time for more negotiation.
The letter writers said the costs of a 17-day shutdown in 2013 were
"unacceptable," such as a $24 billion hit to the U.S. economy and
the loss of 100,000 private sector jobs. "The shutdown ... actually
cost more taxpayer money to close the federal government than to
keep it open," the lawmakers wrote.
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The letter made no mention of Planned Parenthood.
The most conservative three-dozen or so House members have said they
would oppose any measure allowing the healthcare group to keep
getting $500 million a year in federal funds.
The Senate on Thursday plans to vote on a Republican bill that would
extend present government funding through Dec. 11, but attempt to
cut off a portion of Planned Parenthood's funds.
Democrats were expected to block this, forcing Republicans to turn
to a "clean" spending bill simply extending all funding.
A spokesperson for Republican House Speaker John Boehner declined to
comment on the letter.
(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Richard
Chang)
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