Washington, D.C. - Congressman Dave Loebsack released the following statement after the House of Representatives voted on a Continuing Resolution written to include the demands of the Tea Party. The bill that was voted on today has no chance of passing the Senate or being signed into law. If a commonsense, bipartisan agreement is not reached by September 30, when the current agreement expires, the government will shut down.
"For the second time in as many days, the extreme Tea Party wing of the Republican Party has taken over and driven the House further away from reaching a commonsense agreement and getting the work of the American people done. Let's be clear, today's vote does nothing more than push our government towards a shut down and default, threatening our economy and Iowans' jobs and retirement investments. If that were to happen, Medicare patients would have their care disrupted, veterans would see their benefits interrupted, and our men and women in uniform would have their pay delayed.
"Now that the Tea Party has gotten this out of their system, let's put the partisan bickering aside and get to work on the basics that the American people expect and avoid yet another self-inflicted wound to our economy. Instead of veering from one manufactured crisis to another, Washington must come together to re-focus its energy on job creation and the conditions necessary to promote it, while taking the difficult but necessary steps to substantially reduce the unsustainable deficit. I will continue to work on a bipartisan basis to achieve these goals."
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