AP Photo Dems to Boehner: No breaks until government is funded

Close to 80 Democrats are pushing Speaker John Boehner to keep the House in session until Congress passes a stop-gap funding measure to keep the government open.

Led by Illinois Rep. Cheri Bustos, the Democrats wrote to Boehner Thursday saying they are gravely concerned that with less than two weeks to go until the government runs out of money, the House is only in session six more days.


“The American people deserve to know that their elected representatives are working around the clock to avoid another self-inflicted Washington wound on our national and local economies,” the lawmakers wrote. “We strongly urge you to keep the House of Representatives in session every day from now until we reach a deal.”

The window of time for Boehner (R-Ohio) and his Republican leadership team to come up with a solution to the looming government shutdown is dwindling. The House is out of session for the bulk of next week and Thursday is expected to be dominated by Pope Francis’ visit to Capitol Hill.

But there are major roadblocks to bringing a continuing resolution to the floor for a vote. Conservative Republicans want to defund Planned Parenthood in any government spending bill – a move that is not viable in the Senate.

The Democratic letter-writers cited the impact a shutdown could have on the economy as justification for stopping lawmakers from jetting home without a deal in place.

“The 16 day government shutdown of 2013 cost the U.S. economy $24 billion and reduced 4th quarter GDP growth by 0.6 [percent],” they wrote. “We simply cannot allow this failure to happen again.”

Signatories on the letter include Reps. Linda Sánchez, Derek Kilmer, Judy Chu, G.K. Butterfield, Raúl Grijalva, Jared Polis and Jan Schakowsky.