Carper Votes for Short Term Funding Measure to Keep Government Open

WASHINGTON – Today, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), top Democrat on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released the following statement after the Senate voted 78-20 to fund the Government through Dec. 11, 2015:

“I have a friend who, when asked how he’s doing, responds with a question – ‘Compared to what?’ Well, compared to a government shutdown, a continuing resolution sends the signal that sanity reigns in the Senate. But I’m disappointed that our habit of crisis governing has desensitized us – in a world where we are worried about even keeping the government’s lights on, it’s no wonder we fail to recognize how much we’re failing on our bigger picture responsibilities.

“By lurching from one crisis to the next, our federal government becomes far less effective and far more expensive. The uncertainty of stopgap funding degrades the morale of our federal employees, hurts businesses’ ability to create jobs, and creates harmful ripple effects for state and local governments and economies. After all, it’s incredibly difficult to plan and budget effectively if you don’t know what is, or is not, coming your way from Washington.

“Congress should be laser focused on continuing our economic recovery. We need to pass a comprehensive, bipartisan budget plan that gives government and business certainty, and shows the American people that we can lead. Then we need to translate those plans into timely appropriations bills that will let agencies and their partners spend their time trying to get better results for the taxpayer dollar, not hastily putting together contingency plans. I hope my colleagues in both the House and Senate will join me in saying that enough is enough, it’s time to come together, and do our jobs that the American people hired us to do.”