releases: https://www.portman.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/senate-floor-portman-urges-colleagues-pass-short-term-funding-measure-end
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://www.portman.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/senate-floor-portman-urges-colleagues-pass-short-term-funding-measure-end | On Senate Floor, Portman Urges Colleagues to Pass Short-Term Funding Measure & End Government Shutdowns for Good | 2020-12-18 | 2020 | 2020-12 | Republican | Senate | OH | Rob Portman | P000449 | www.portman.senate.gov | legacy | On Senate Floor, Portman Urges Colleagues to Pass Short-Term Funding Measure & End Government Shutdowns for Good December 18, 2020 | Press Releases WASHINGTON, DC Today, on the Senate floor, hours before the government will shut down if a temporary funding measure isn't passed, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) discussed the unnecessary costs of government shutdowns and highlighted his End Government Shutdowns Act, which would permanently prevent the federal government from shutting down, ensure that essential government services aren't disrupted, and protect taxpayers from resulting deficits. The measure would create an automatic continuing resolution (CR) in the event of a lapse of appropriations, and incentivize Congress to pass full-year appropriations bills through gradually reducing spending after 120 days. Last year, Portman released the findings of a nine-month investigation by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which he chairs, detailing the real-world costs of the last three government shutdowns. Alongside Ranking Member Tom Carper (D-DE), Portman found that the combined 54 days of partial or full government closures since FY 2014 resulted in at least $4 billion in costs for taxpayers and 56,938 years of missed work by furloughed federal workers. Transcript of his remarks can be found below and a video can be found here. The other thing that's going on tonight, I will say, I guess it's obvious, is that we're about to hit the government shutdown time period again. I mean, we are only about six and a half hours from another government shutdown. That is totally unacceptable. We should never have these shutdowns. They don't make any sense. By the way, to my Republican friends who think these shutdowns are good because you shut down a lot of government and it seems like you save money. We never save money. The taxpayers always end up paying more. You go back and provide back pay, even for services that are not provided. I think we have to figure out a way when we can't get our work done here -- and this is why this is happening. We have not gotten our spending bills and appropriations bills done, therefore we are facing a government shutdown again. At midnight, we turn into pumpkins. It means the government starts to get shut down. By the way, it creates confusion and uncertainty for federal workers, of course, who are wondering, you know, are they going to have their job and are they going to get paid, but also confusion and uncertainty for a lot of citizens who are depending on the services that otherwise would be provided. And it is so inefficient. If you believe in the efficiency of government and you believe in, you know, not wasting money, you shouldn't want these government shutdowns. So my hope is that we do pass a continuing resolution at least to kick us into the next couple of days so that we don't have a shutdown tonight. That would be just such a disaster for so many people. And it could last a long time, by the way, as these shutdowns did over the last couple of years. It doesn't just mean it's a few days. Let's just not go into shutdown at all. I have introduced legislation called End Government Shutdowns for ten years now. I have introduced it in five different Congresses. We have 33 cosponsors. I think it has more cosponsors than any bill like it. But there are other ideas out there, and I am open to them, just some way for us to get away from these shutdowns. Our bill says we just can't shut it down. When you are going for a shutdown, instead you just do a continuing funding from the previous year. And then, by the way, over time you reduce that by one percent every 90 days and then every 60 days to get the attention of the appropriators to get them back to work. Now, other people have other ideas. Our bill has been bipartisan in the past. I don't believe it is today, but it does have 33 cosponsors. So my hope is that we can figure out a way to end these government shutdowns with simple legislation that says let's just not do it. I don't think it provides healthy leverage. I think it provides, again, uncertainty and confusion. ### | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |