Congresswoman Johnson laments GOP’s “extreme legislative agenda” as government shutdown looms

WASHINGTON, DC –  Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX-30) released the following statement after voting against the latest Republican proposal designed to shut down the government:

“House Republicans continue to stick by an extreme legislative agenda that does not have a chance to pass in the Senate nor be signed into law by the President.  We are witnessing a reckless agenda aimed to deliberately shutdown the government resulting in direct harm to our children, seniors, working families and economy.” Congresswoman Johnson stated, “I want to assure the citizens in my district that my offices will remain open and fully staffed to ensure that lines of communication with the citizens of the thirtieth district  remain open.  This is a critical time for my constituents,  so I know my constituent services are needed more than ever.”

As of today, the Administration has advised:

• 140,000 Federal employees in Texas alone would be immediately and indefinitely furloughed, and many Federal employees and contractors that continue to work would not be paid during the shutdown.
• Housing loans to low and middle income families in rural communities would be put on hold, as would start-up business loans for farmers and ranchers.
• The Department of Defense estimates that during a shutdown nearly half of the civilian workforce would be sent home without pay, while the rest would continue to work for delayed pay, impacting the 51,621 civilian workers in Texas.
• SBA would stop approving applications for small businesses to obtain loans and loan guarantees.  In a typical month, SBA approves over $1 billion in loan assistance to small businesses.
• All facilities and services in our national parks would be closed, as would the Smithsonian, impacting the hundreds of thousands of people that visit these sites daily.  This would have severely negative impacts on the surrounding local communities that rely on the revenue generated by travel and tourism to these destinations.
• Important government research into life-threatening diseases, environmental protection, and other areas would be halted.
• The government would stop issuing permits to conduct drilling operations on Federal lands, and would stop or delay environmental reviews of planned transportation and energy-related projects, keeping companies from working on these projects.