Hawaii Reps Oppose ‘No Budget, No Pay Act’
The Hill has this report. Excerpts:
The House on Wednesday approved a bill extending the nation’s debt limit, and raised pressure on the Senate to pass its first budget in nearly four years.
The House approved the No Budget, No Pay Act, which also includes a measure withholding senators’ pay until they complete that work, in a 285-144 vote.
Among Republicans, 33 voted against it to protest the absence of specific spending cuts alongside suspending the nation’s borrowing limit. But they were more than offset by the 86 Democrats who voted for the measure.
The bill extends the debt ceiling until May 18, and requires each chamber to pass a budget by April 15 or have its members face a suspension of pay. Republicans are hoping the bill gives Congress a few months to find a longer-term debt-ceiling agreement that includes significant spending cuts.
Hanabusa release a statement on her vote, which included this passage: “Because of its deceiving title, the appropriate warning for this legislation is ‘don’t judge a book by its cover. It’s shibai, a sham, to say that House members’ pay will be withheld until the House and Senate separately pass any budget resolution; House Republicans know they have enough GOP votes to pass the dangerous Ryan Budget, which guts Medicare and undermines the middle class, so the salaries of House members will never be withheld.”
—Chad Blair
