FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – With gridlock continuing in Washington, a government shutdown is looking all but imminent ahead of this weekend’s deadline.
Central Valley-area Congressman David Valadao says his office is trying to work with as many resources as possible to minimize the impact of the federal government effectively closing.
“We’re also going to do our best to keep our offices open so that we’re readily available and accessible,” said Congressman Valadao. “Our concern is obviously different departments of the federal government will probably be shut down and so the inability to talk with them will cause some issues for us, so we’re trying to make that as easy as possible but also my job here in Washington is to find some sort of compromise that we can get signed into law so that we avoid as much of a shut down as possible.”
The failed short-term funding bill would have extended funding until Oct. 31 with spending cuts and included border policy changes, and was intended to give the Republican members of the House of Representatives leverage ahead of negotiations with the Democratic-controlled Senate and White House.
In the current clash over funding the government, the debate has centered on whether Congress should use stopgap funding legislation to keep government offices running and paychecks for federal employees flowing beyond Friday when the government’s fiscal year expires.
“I mean making sure that all the different agencies, I mean the American people are going to continue to pay taxes and those taxes are paying for a government that should be working for them and that’s not just those of us here in the Capitol,” said Valadao. “It’s all the different agencies out there that serve them and we’re supposed to work with them to make sure they’re serving them as well, so if it’s one person – for me that’s too much. This is something we take very seriously and something we think is very frustrating.”
Valadao echoed his frustration and concern about the looming shutdown saying this is not benefiting anyone.
“This isn’t a stronger position for us, this isn’t a better place for us to be. We should be passing legislation and we should be sending it over to the Senate and forcing a conversation because getting our House in fiscal control is what I think the American people want us to do and I think poll after poll has shown that they know the government is too big and it spends too much but a shutdown doesn’t save us money and doesn’t put us in a better position to negotiate those types of reforms that we absolutely need,” said Valadao.
Valadao continued by saying as frustrating as all the back and forth has been, there is a strategy to get to an end game and that most people in Congress want to see this end as soon as possible.
Valadao added that he believes House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is doing everything he can to get to a solution as quickly as possible.
“The ultimate strategy here that I think has to play out is to get as many votes as possible. It’s going to require compromise and the only way to get there is for Kevin, the Speaker, to continue to bring as many pieces of legislation to the floor and get to a point where we can get some sort of legislation that has enough support to actually become law,” said Valadao.
