Lest any constituents of California’s 52nd Congressional district forget that there’s an election just 13 months away, Scott Peters, the sitting Democrat, and Carl DeMaio, who’s been building his candidacy virtually since losing the mayoral race in 2012, have issued competing statements concerning the federal government shutdown following failure to reach an agreement on the country’s financial future.
Peters was quick to blame Republicans for attempting to insert language effectively de-funding the controversial Affordable Care Act.
“I am extremely disappointed that the Majority party and its leadership would shut down the government for any amount of time, because they’ve allowed the Tea Party faction to rule and win the day. It is unacceptable; real people and families count on many of the services the federal government provides,” said Peters via a release. A second one later in the day said Peters, notably one of the wealthiest members of Congress, would henceforth refuse to draw a salary until a budget resolution was passed, promising to donate 100 percent of his congressional pay to charity. Peters had already been on a self-imposed “sequester” whereby eight percent of his congressional paycheck went to a local charity.
DeMaio’s response, published by his partner Jonathan Hale in the San Diego Gay & Lesbian News, pointed fingers at both parties.
“This government shutdown is yet another example of the complete failure of partisan politics that has resulted in utter dysfunction in Washington,” says DeMaio, also via release. “Nobody wins in this mess, especially the American people, because not only are we seeing disruption in important services and programs, but we are failing to deliver the common-sense reforms that a majority of Americans support.”
Those “common-sense reforms” include removal of the “individual mandate” and a medical device tax – two key factors to funding the program at all. In the short term, DeMaio suggests a seven-day extension of funding for general government functions to continue to negotiate for Democratic concessions, and a law to strip all federal legislators of their pay absent a functional funding bill – one point of agreement with Peters.
November 4, 2014 is only 398 days away…
Lest any constituents of California’s 52nd Congressional district forget that there’s an election just 13 months away, Scott Peters, the sitting Democrat, and Carl DeMaio, who’s been building his candidacy virtually since losing the mayoral race in 2012, have issued competing statements concerning the federal government shutdown following failure to reach an agreement on the country’s financial future.
Peters was quick to blame Republicans for attempting to insert language effectively de-funding the controversial Affordable Care Act.
“I am extremely disappointed that the Majority party and its leadership would shut down the government for any amount of time, because they’ve allowed the Tea Party faction to rule and win the day. It is unacceptable; real people and families count on many of the services the federal government provides,” said Peters via a release. A second one later in the day said Peters, notably one of the wealthiest members of Congress, would henceforth refuse to draw a salary until a budget resolution was passed, promising to donate 100 percent of his congressional pay to charity. Peters had already been on a self-imposed “sequester” whereby eight percent of his congressional paycheck went to a local charity.
DeMaio’s response, published by his partner Jonathan Hale in the San Diego Gay & Lesbian News, pointed fingers at both parties.
“This government shutdown is yet another example of the complete failure of partisan politics that has resulted in utter dysfunction in Washington,” says DeMaio, also via release. “Nobody wins in this mess, especially the American people, because not only are we seeing disruption in important services and programs, but we are failing to deliver the common-sense reforms that a majority of Americans support.”
Those “common-sense reforms” include removal of the “individual mandate” and a medical device tax – two key factors to funding the program at all. In the short term, DeMaio suggests a seven-day extension of funding for general government functions to continue to negotiate for Democratic concessions, and a law to strip all federal legislators of their pay absent a functional funding bill – one point of agreement with Peters.
November 4, 2014 is only 398 days away…