{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://pearce.house.gov/editorial/why-mess-washington-happened", "Why the Mess in Washington Happened", "2013-10-25", "2013", "2013-10", "Republican", "House", "NM", "Steve Pearce", "P000588", "pearce.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Last week, the House and Senate voted to end the government shutdown. I am pleased that the furloughs are over and the government is back to work. It should never have gotten to that point. Both parties are to blame for the mess we got ourselves into.\nWhile I was fully in favor of restarting the government, the final legislation to accomplish that had a multitude of problems:\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1. It protects special treatment for Washington, meaning that Congress, the White House, and their staffers will receive massive taxpayer subsidies to cover most of their new healthcare costs.\u00a0\u00a0\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2. It is only temporary; in three months we have the danger of the same turmoil again.\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 3. It has no dollar limit on the President\u2019s power to borrow; he borrowed $328 billion the first day.\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 4. It had no reforms to address the overspending which kills jobs and threatens the country\u2019s economic future.\u00a0\nPeople ask what the entire discussion was about. It was a full-fledged struggle of ideas.\u00a0 On one side was the idea that we can continue borrowing and printing money; on the other is the idea that we must stop raising taxes, printing money, and spending more than we have.\u00a0\nCompromise is possible.\u00a0This year, the Republican House and the Democratic Senate managed to agree on many bills\u2014including one that reforms student loan programs, and seven different bills that repealed or defunded parts of Obama care.\u00a0 The President signed all of these reforms into law.\u00a0\nThe House passed a series of appropriations bills with responsible reforms to move the country toward a balanced budget.\u00a0 But the Senate refused to act, and it was necessary to fund the government with a \u201ccontinuing resolution,\u201d or \u201cCR.\u201d\nThe President called for us to pass a \u201cclean CR,\u201d which is Washington talk for no more reforms\u2026and no more attempts to get the deficit under control.\u00a0 Our country is over 17 trillion dollars in debt.\u00a0 We are printing, borrowing, and taxing as much as we possibly can.\nThe disagreement over the CR spread next into the debt limit. That is like when you max out your credit card. You can\u2019t buy more on your card until you pay it off. If Washington reaches the debt ceiling, we would have to do the same thing every American family does when they get in a crunch.\u00a0 We would prioritize expenses, start paying off debt and live within our means.\u00a0\nOur system is set up where the House, the Senate and the White House\u2014Democrats, Republicans and Independents\u2014all have to arrive at common ground.\nThere are differences of opinion.\u00a0 Each side gives a little to find common ground. That\u2019s what we did two years ago when we approached this same point. Republicans agreed to give the president what he wanted in exchange for spending cuts.\u00a0 It is the way the system is supposed to work.\nBut not this time. We sent the Senate four different attempts to negotiate before the government shut down. Each one a bigger compromise than the last.\u00a0 The Senate ignored them all, refusing to accept anything less than going forward ignoring all the problems. \u00a0I voted for more than a dozen bills to fund at least the functions of the government we could all agree on, like veterans\u2019 benefits and New Mexico\u2019s labs. I had hoped they would have been taken in the spirit of compromise, but they were unsuccessful.\u00a0\nSo now we have given the President his \u201cclean CR\u201d. The government is running, but the major economic challenges remain.\nI am disappointed and frustrated with the mess in Washington over the last few weeks. I know you are too. I still believe there is room for optimism.\u00a0 Just this week, both parties worked together to pass important legislation with strong bipartisan support.\u00a0 Democrats got things important to them, while Republicans found ways to save $12 billion.\u00a0 That\u2019s the way it\u2019s supposed to work.\u00a0 With both sides agreeing, it seems that there is hope for future cooperation.\u00a0 And I am already working across the aisle on key issues for New Mexico and the nation, including\u00a0immigration reform,\u00a0job creation, energy, and\u00a0veterans' affairs.", 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://pearce.house.gov/editorial/why-mess-washington-happened"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7191039621829987, "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"}