releases: https://www.isakson.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-center?ContentRecord_id=24073a4c-bd44-4049-a00f-ade9de6f11db
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://www.isakson.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-center?ContentRecord_id=24073a4c-bd44-4049-a00f-ade9de6f11db | e-Newsletter for the week ending October 11, 2013 | 2013-10-11 | 2013 | 2013-10 | Republican | House | GA | Johnny Isakson | I000055 | www.isakson.senate.gov | legacy | Dear Friends, Since Oct. 1, 2013, the government has remained in a partial shutdown due to the fact that the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives could not reach an agreement on a continuing resolution to fund the government going forward. On Thursday, I was happy to wholeheartedly support legislation to pay death benefits to families of fallen soldiers during the partial shutdown. The Senate passed the House-approved legislation by unanimous consent, and it was signed by the president later in the day. Specifically, the bill reinstated the $100,000 “death gratuity” payments to military families and resumed funeral and burial benefits. The funding had been suspended as a consequence of the partial government shutdown. While the government remains in partial shutdown mode and this in itself is a fluid situation, we are also facing another major deadline. Next Thursday, Oct. 17, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has said the government will need to renew its borrowing authority to meet its debt obligations, commonly referred to as “raising the debt ceiling.” In response to this deadline, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has filed a motion to move forward on a bill, S. 1569, that would suspend the debt limit until Dec. 31, 2014, that the Senate will vote on either today or tomorrow, in order to try for a final vote by Oct. 16, 2013. Biennial Budgeting and Appropriations Act On Monday, I spoke on the floor of the Senate to urge Congress to adopt a biennial budgeting system as part of any deal to end the current government shutdown. A biennial budgeting system would help prevent the need for constant last-minute negotiations on continuing resolutions in the future by reforming the current budget and appropriations system by converting it from a chaotic annual process to a two-year cycle. I appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., to discuss this bipartisan biennial budgeting bill, the Biennial Budgeting and Appropriations Act. The legislation would force Congress to become better stewards of the taxpayers’ money by placing Congress on a two-year budget cycle with one year devoted to appropriating federal dollars and the other year devoted to oversight of federal programs. The current government shutdown over the failure to reach agreement on a continuing resolution is no way to run the greatest country on the face of this earth. It’s time to try new solutions, such as biennial budgeting, to solve our fiscal problems. We are now arguing over a continuing resolution that we shouldn’t have to argue over if we would have been budgeting and appropriating over the last four years. There is bipartisan responsibility for not having adopted budgets or appropriations acts. Let’s add a simple resolution to the CR that changes our way of doing business to a biennial budget. The Isakson-Shaheen Biennial Budgeting and Appropriations Act forces Congress to do our regular order of business of appropriating and budgeting and puts back in place the kind of discipline and responsibility that we really need around this place. Instead of arguing about what we can’t agree upon, we ought to find common ground and run our country like America’s households run their families. If we had to do in Washington what every American family has to do, this would be a different place. In March of this year, the Senate adopted our Biennial Budgeting and Appropriations Act as an amendment, S.Amdt.138, to the Senate-passed budget. It was agreed to by a vote of 68 to 31, signaling strong bipartisan support. Biennial budgeting has been endorsed by each successive administration since Ronald Reagan was president, as well as by numerous federal budget experts. I have sponsored biennial budgeting proposals every year I’ve been in the Senate, while Sen. Shaheen has firsthand experience with the efficacy of biennial budgeting from her tenure as governor of New Hampshire. Currently, more than 20 states, including New Hampshire, operate on a two-year budget cycle. Our proposal has garnered the support of 20 co-sponsors: 9 Democrats, 10 Republicans and one Independent. Obamacare and the Continuing Resolution To reiterate my position on this issue, I strongly oppose Obamacare. Since it became law, I have cast nearly 60 votes to defund, dismantle and repeal it. Democrats designed Obamacare in a way that allows its funding to continue even if the rest of the government shuts down, so the effect of a shutdown is to allow Obamacare to go forward while hurting seniors, veterans and our military. To that end, I will do everything I can to defund or delay Obamacare. On Sept. 25, 2013, in keeping with my consistent and strong opposition to Obamacare, I voted in favor of the House-passed continuing resolution, the Stability, Security and Fairness Act, H.J.Res.59, that would have both defunded Obamacare and kept the government running until Dec. 15, 2013. Cloture on the motion to proceed to H.J.Res.59 was agreed to by all senators by a vote of 100 to 0. On Sept. 27, 2013, the Senate voted 79 to 19 to end debate on the House-passed continuing resolution. I voted to end debate on the House-passed CR so the Senate could move forward to vote on final passage of the House-passed CR to give the House time to act to avert a government shutdown. I also voted against Senate Majority Leader Reid’s amendment that would restore funding for Obamacare to the House-passed CR. Unfortunately, Senator Reid’s amendment passed by a vote of 54-44. I then voted against final passage of the CR because I was disappointed that Sen. Reid’s amendment was added to the bill. The continuing resolution passed by a vote of 54 to 44. What’s on Tap? I will continue to look for ways to find an agreement on funding the federal government so we can bring an end to this shutdown. Sincerely, Johnny Isakson | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |