Rep. Mike Kennedy wants to ban government shutdowns.
The freshman congressman from Utah’s 3rd District floated the idea during a news conference on Wednesday, which marked the first day of a federal government shutdown after lawmakers in Washington failed to come to an agreement on a short-term funding deal.
“There are those that want to promote that kind of weaponization of the government being open or not,” Kennedy said. “It’s inappropriate. I think it’s a terrible weapon that both sides have used.”
One way to avoid political gamesmanship with government funding, he said, would be to pass legislation that would automatically fund the government at its current levels. “If we can’t come to an agreement ... it’s an automatic that we just have continued resolution,” he said, rather than force the closure of non-essential government services and agencies.
“I’m supportive of taking this weapon off the table that both sides seem to be willing to use, so that we, the American people, are not held hostage as we try to get the government funded,” he said.
Kennedy, along with the three other members of Utah’s all-GOP House delegation, voted last month to pass a seven-week, short-term funding bill to keep the government open. But the legislation failed in the Senate, where Republicans need at least seven Democrats to cross the aisle and close debate in order to pass the spending bill.
Democratic leaders are holding out on the spending bill in an effort to force Republicans to restore health care funding cuts and extend enhanced premium tax credits that help millions of Americans afford Affordable Care Act coverage, which are set to expire at the end of this year.
Kennedy, a physician, was supportive of the cuts passed earlier this year, but said Wednesday that he would be open to a conversation about the extension of the Obamacare tax credits — just not as part of the seven-week continuing resolution.
“I’m very interested in that debate and discussion,” he said, adding that conversation about sunsetting the programs should not happen with “the government held hostage and the American people held hostage.”
With the government shuttered, non-essential programs and services are suspended, though Kennedy noted Wednesday that many of the services with which Americans interact on a daily basis — including the postal service, Veterans Affairs and Medicaid services — remain open. So, too, do the country’s national parks, though on a limited basis, with open-air areas open for people to visit and limited staff on duty.
Should the shutdown stretch beyond a few days or weeks, however, more services could be interrupted. Kennedy noted that he is concerned about the delays for immigration court hearings, supplemental food programs for women and children and the effect on furloughed federal workers in Utah and around the country who count on their paychecks to pay the bills.
But the congressman said he is hopeful the shutdown will not last long: “As the pressure builds over the next, hopefully not very long, two or three or five or seven days, I think the Senate Democrats are going to see that this is not in their favor, and let’s just continue to fund the government,” he said.
Kennedy introduced a bill this week called the No Work, No Pay Act, which would prevent members of Congress from being paid if the government shuts down.
“If we’re not going to pass a budget, we’re not going to fund the government, we aren’t going to get paid either,” he said Wednesday. “I just think that that’s totally appropriate.”
Note to readers, 11 a.m. • This story has been updated now that Rep. Mike Kennedy’s bill has been introduced.