{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://kuster.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/kuster-leads-178-democrats-in-calling-on-speaker-boehner-to-end-threat", "Kuster Leads 178 Democrats In Calling on Speaker Boehner to End Threat of Government Shutdown and Default", "2013-10-31", "2013", "2013-10", "Democrat", "House", "NH", "Ann Kuster", "K000382", "kuster.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "In letter to Speaker Boehner, Kuster and colleagues urge House Republican leadership to publicly declare they will not use threat of a government shutdown or default as leverage in budget negotiations\nEstimates show recent shutdown cost U.S. economy $24 billion, reduced 4th quarter GDP growth by 0.6 percent, and triggered higher interest rates that added $100 million to deficit in final week of shutdown alone\nKuster to Boehner: No More Shutdowns\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 As lawmakers from both parties begin to negotiate a long-term budget agreement, Congresswoman Annie Kuster (NH-02) and Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty (CT-05) are leading a coalition of 178 Democratic lawmakers in calling on Speaker Boehner and Republican leadership to publicly declare that they will not use the threat of another government shutdown or default as leverage in budget talks. Underscoring the economic damage caused by the recent shutdown, the group of lawmakers said that Congress must work together to pass a responsible budget agreement and take the crippling twin threats of a shutdown and default off the table for good.\u00a0\n\u201cWe are sending a clear message to the Republican leadership on behalf of the American people \u2013 No More Shutdowns,\u201d said Kuster and Esty.\n\u201cThe 16-day-long federal government shutdown is over and default on America\u2019s debt has been averted, although no one is relieved that this latest crisis ever occurred.\u00a0 Now, we are deeply concerned that the American people are in danger of another shutdown or threat of default early next year,\u201d the lawmakers wrote. \u201cThe most powerful source of uncertainty to American families and businesses is the threat of a government shutdown and default on our debts. That is why we are writing to you to urge you and your leadership to publicly declare that you will not again use the threat of a government shutdown or default as leverage in the important discussions regarding long-term deficit reduction and economic growth.\u201d\nEarlier this month, Kuster was part of a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers that voted for a compromise measure that ended the shutdown, prevented a default, and gave Congress more time to work together on a balanced, long-term budget agreement. During the shutdown, Kuster wrote an op-ed calling on Speaker Boehner to let Congress vote on a simple, bipartisan bill to fully end the shutdown so that Congress could return its focus to helping create jobs and opportunity for middle class families.\nThe full text of the group\u2019s letter is below:\nOctober 31, 2013\nHonorable John Boehner  \n\tSpeaker of the House  \n\tWashington, D.C.\u00a0 20515\nDear Mr. Speaker,\nThe 16-day-long federal government shutdown is over and default on America\u2019s debt has been averted, although no one is relieved that this latest crisis ever occurred.\u00a0 Now, we are deeply concerned that the American people are in danger of another shutdown or threat of default early next year.\nThe most powerful source of uncertainty to American families and businesses is the threat of a government shutdown and default on our debts. That is why we are writing to you to urge you and your leadership to publicly declare that you will not again use the threat of a government shutdown or default as leverage in the important discussions regarding long-term deficit reduction and economic growth.\nThe American people depend on their elected representatives to be problem solvers and get our work done. When we fail to do our job, however, it is not the American people who should pay the price for our inability to reach critical agreements.\nThe cost to our nation is too high. The absence of paychecks to hundreds of thousands of federal employees during the course of the shutdown caused real economic hardship to those employees and their families and to private businesses whose livelihoods were affected by the shutdown.\nRatings agencies and economists from across the political spectrum agree that the shutdown and threat of default took a real toll on our economy and that the possibility of repeating these crises is causing ongoing uncertainty and economic weakness.\n Standard & Poor\u2019s estimated that the recent shutdown cost our economy $24 billion and reduced 4th quarter GDP growth by 0.6 percent. The shutdown triggered higher short-term interest rates, adding $100 million to the federal budget deficit in the last week of the shutdown alone.\u00a0 And Standard & Poor\u2019s said that the threat of another shutdown and possible default weighs heavily on the economy.\u00a0 \u201cThe short turnaround for politicians to negotiate some sort of lasting deal will weigh on consumer confidence, especially among government workers that were furloughed,\u201d the agency said in its October 16 report.\n\tMark Zandi, chief economist for Moody\u2019s Analytics, \u201csaid he has downgraded his projected growth for the gross domestic product for the last quarter of this year from 2.6 percent to 2.1 percent because of the shutdown and simply the threat that Congress would not raise the debt ceiling on time,\u201d according the Times-Tribune of Scranton, PA.\n\tJoel Naroff, founder of Naroff Economic Advisors, said the \u201cshutdown trimmed fourth-quarter growth by 20% - an outcome any business would \u2018consider a disaster\u2019,'' according to USA Today.\n\tGennadiy Goldberg, economist at TD Securities, said, \u201c\u2019The recovery is on hold for another four months,\u2019 citing the unresolved differences in Washington over the government budget,\u201d according to Thompson/Reuters.\n\tAnd Adam Posen of the Peterson Institute for International Economics said, \u201cThis will accelerate the rate at which the Chinese renminbi becomes accepted \u2014 at least throughout Asia \u2014 as an alternative to the dollar, or Chinese government bonds become accepted as an alternative [to U.S. Treasurys],\u201d according to National Public Radio.\n This sobering economic hardship should have never been visited upon the American people. The shutdown and threat of default were unnecessary and costly.\nCongress has voted itself 90 days to reach a long-term budget agreement. We respectfully request that Congress work hard to reach an agreement sooner than that and that you and your colleagues in leadership remove the threat of another shutdown or default on America\u2019s debt as a weapon in these talks.\nWe are working in good faith to meet our responsibilities and achieve the goals set out in last week\u2019s agreement to open the government and avoid default.\u00a0 All House Democrats and some Republicans voted for that agreement.\u00a0 By acting now to take the threat of another shutdown or default off the table you can provide certainty and economic relief that American families and privates businesses desperately need.\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://kuster.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/kuster-leads-178-democrats-in-calling-on-speaker-boehner-to-end-threat"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.411951845511794, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}