As Congress addresses another impending government shutdown, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) released a ‘Dear Colleague’ letter today calling on fellow Democrats to vote against a continuing resolution (CR), referring to it as a “destructive and cynical Republican bill.”
“Tonight, Republicans who control the House, Senate and White House will bring forth their fifth stop-gap, short-term spending bill, once again demonstrating their incompetence,” the statement says.
She claims that Republicans are not providing enough funding for domestic programs and says the they “are trying to starve the domestic budget.”
“Democrats support a strong national defense. But we will not allow Republicans to use this Continuing Resolution to hollow out our nation’s commitments to the health, education and economic security of America’s working families.”
“Instead of working constructively with Democrats to meet the needs of the American people, Republicans are trying to starve the domestic budget – one-third of which goes to national security including Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs, the State Department and anti-terrorism activities of the Justice Department,” the statement continues.
Some Republicans have highlighted that this continuing resolution provides funding for the military and for “Community Health Care Centers.” Tennessee Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R) tweeted her support for the CR today:
“To avoid another government shutdown, the House will pass the federal funding bill today. A crucial part of this bill is a full year of funding for our military, a pay raise for our troops, and a 2-year extension for our Community Health Care Centers. Let's get this done,” her tweet read.
But Pelosi’s statement expresses significant dissatisfaction with the CR and specifically decries the health center funding as “inadequate.”
“Republicans want us to swallow an inadequate two-year reauthorization of Community Health Centers, while they eliminate the Home Visiting initiative that is making vital progress in maternal and child health, and cut off workforce training for low-income Americans seeking good-paying jobs in health care,” she says.
Pelosi also called for increased spending on a number of domestic issues:
“The sole purpose of this Republican bill is to destroy our leverage to achieve parity in the caps,” she writes. “We are insisting on bipartisan investments that are essential to fighting the opioid epidemic, investing in veterans’ infrastructure and services, strengthening the National Institutes of Health, saving Americans’ endangered pensions, delivering strong disaster recovery funding and passing the DREAM Act – all spelled out in the Welch letter to President Trump.”
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