Utah Democrats Welcome End of "Do-Nothing" Republican Congress
Friday, December 8, 2006
For
Immediate Release
December 8,
2006
NEWS
RELEASE
Utah
Democrats Welcome End of
"Do-Nothing" Republican
Congress
Salt Lake
City – Utah State
Democratic Party Chair
Wayne Holland, Jr. today marked the end
of
the GOP's "do-nothing" 109th
Congress. Over the last
two years, Republicans like Chris Cannon and
Rob Bishop, have presided over a
Congress that "worked a total of 103 days,"
which is "seven days
fewer than the infamous 'Do-Nothing Congress'
of 1948."
[Washington Post, 12/8/06] The new Democratic
Majority is committed to taking the business
of the American people seriously
and, like most American workers, will put in
the long hours needed to get the
job done.
"Last
month the American people sent a powerful
message rejecting the failed
leadership of the 'do-nothing' Republican
Congress and demanded real leadership
that will address the needs of our working
families," said USDC Chairman
Holland. "The people of
Utah have paid a high
price for the failure of the
'Do-Nothing' Republican Congress, most
recently with the 4th Congressional
seat debacle. The new Democratic majority is
committed to making Congress work
hard, restore integrity and fiscal discipline
in Congress, and the make sure
that the needs of the American people are
met."
###
Republican
Inaction Will Hurt Veterans, Education, Health
And Law Enforcement. "Ridiculed as the
'do-nothing' 109th U.S.
Congress, the Senate and U.S. House of
Representatives on Monday begin a brief
session to wrap up whatever work they can,
install a new defense secretary and
approve money to prevent a shutdown of
government services. . Congress has
failed to pass nine of the 11 annual bills
that fund government activities in the
fiscal year that began on October 1. Farm
subsidies, education, health and law
enforcement are among the programs without
full-year funding. To avert
government shutdowns, two temporary spending
bills have already been enacted.
The latest expires on Friday and Congress is
expected to pass a third stopgap
funding bill that would keep
U.S. agencies running
through February 15. Early next
year, Democrats will try to finish the work.
But in the meantime, some programs
could suffer as the stopgap bills mostly hold
spending to last year's level.
Joe Davis, a spokesman for Veterans of Foreign
Wars, said that 'will absolutely
hurt.' With growing numbers of Iraq war veterans, he said
the backlog of claims for
medical, pension and education benefits has
swelled to more than 800,000,
compared to about 773,000 last year."
[Reuters, 12/3/06]
