{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://morgangriffith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=352705", "Congressman Griffith's Weekly E-Newsletter 10.7.13", "2013-10-07", "2013", "2013-10", "Republican", "House", "VA", "Morgan Griffith", "G000568", "morgangriffith.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Winning? Really?!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \nThe Wall Street Journal recently quoted a senior White House official on the partial government shutdown as saying: \u201cWe are winning... It doesn't really matter to us how long the shutdown lasts because what matters is the end result.\u201d\nReally?!\u00a0 Nobody\u2019s winning.\u00a0 It\u2019s this kind of talk that makes me extremely frustrated.\u00a0 This is not a game.\u00a0 Everyone is losing to some extent.\u00a0 Government is not operating properly.\u00a0 Some services have been delayed.\u00a0 National parks are closed.\u00a0 Many federal workers have been furloughed.\u00a0 And yet, instead of negotiating with the duly elected House of Representatives, the White House is using the partial shutdown to try and score political points.\u00a0 They\u2019ve barricaded businesses that receive no money from the federal government in North Carolina and forced Virginia businesses to close along the Blue Ridge Parkway.\u00a0 The presidential leadership on this issue is lacking and disappointing.\u00a0 It is not leadership to barricade oneself in the Oval Office and refuse to talk to Congress.\nWhile some in the White House seem to be playing games, and the Senate is stuck in neutral, the House continues to work to fund certain parts of the government until a wholesale resolution can be reached.\u00a0 With my support, the House has passed legislation that includes funding for veterans\u2019 benefits, national parks, National Institutes of Health (NIH), national guardsmen and reservists, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and nutritional assistance for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).\u00a0 Unfortunately, one week into the partial shutdown, the Senate has refused to fund any of these programs.\u00a0 \nThe House plans to continue proposing solutions.\u00a0 My colleagues and I in the House will consider any good faith offer from the Senate that will fund the government and allow it to reopen.\u00a0 \nAverting Another Shutdown\nWe can all agree that there are better ways to run the federal government than by continuing on our current course of operating under a series of missed deadlines and short-term spending bills.\u00a0 Obviously, the current process in Congress is badly in need of repair.\u00a0 While it\u2019s my hope that we quickly resolve the impasse of the current partial government shutdown, we also need to find ways to ensure that we don\u2019t repeat this process again.\u00a0\u00a0 \nAccordingly, I have cosponsored a bill that could prevent another partial shutdown.\u00a0 Introduced by Representative Lankford (R-OK), The Government Shutdown Prevention Act (H.R. 1164), would sustain government spending when Congress misses its deadline to pass funding bills.\u00a0 Importantly, the bill also incentivizes Congress to do its spending work by providing full government funding for only 120 days.\u00a0 After that period, funding would drop by one percentage point and would continue to decrease by that amount every 90 days.\u00a0 For example, if Congress hadn\u2019t completed its spending bills six months after the deadline, government would only be funded at 98 percent.\u00a0 This approach would remove the threat of a partial government shutdown, and it would push Congress towards funding agreements, which is how the process should function.\u00a0 The last time Congress passed all government funding measures on time was 1997.\u00a0 Clearly, real reforms are needed.\u00a0 This bill may not be the perfect approach towards averting another shutdown, but it\u2019s a step in the right direction.\nThe Debt Ceiling \u2013 Then and Now\nIn 2006, then-Senator Obama and Senator Harry Reid opposed raising the debt limit for fear it would weaken our country.\u00a0 Here is what they said then.\nSenator Obama said, \u201cThe fact that we are here today to debate raising America\u2019s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure.\u00a0 It is a sign that the U.S. Government can\u2019t pay its own bills\u2026 Increasing America\u2019s debt weakens us domestically and internationally.\u00a0 Leadership means that \u2018the buck stops here.\u2019\u00a0 Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren.\u00a0 America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership.\u00a0 Americans deserve better.\u201d\nSenator Reid said, \u201cHow can the Republican majority in this Congress explain to their constituents that trillions of dollars in new debt is good for our economy? \u00a0How can they explain that they think it\u2019s fair to force our children, our grandchildren, our great grandchildren to finance this debt through higher taxes? \u00a0That\u2019s what it will have to be.\u00a0 Why is it right to increase our nation\u2019s dependence on foreign creditors?\u00a0 They should explain this. Maybe they can convince the public they\u2019re right. I doubt it. \u00a0Because most Americans know that increasing debt is the last thing we should be doing\u2026\u201d\nNow, they want Congress to sign a blank check.\u00a0 Don\u2019t worry, they\u2019ll fill in the dollar amount.\nTo reach my office by email, please visit my website at www.morgangriffith.house.gov.\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://morgangriffith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=352705"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.1550183407962322, "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"}