Sen. Mark Warner on Senate vote to avoid government shutdown

U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) released the following statement after the Senate voted 78-20 today to approve a clean continuing resolution to fund the government through December 11.

“It’s welcome news for Virginians that the Senate voted not to shut down the government on October 1, and we expect the House to follow suit shortly. While this has pushed-off the tough choices for at least the next ten weeks, that’s another ten weeks of devastating sequester cuts and economic uncertainty before Congress faces these same tough choices once again. We need to stop wasting time on political brinksmanship and show votes and start working together, in a bipartisan way, to reach a budget agreement that ends sequestration and protects our national and economic security.”

After the 16-day federal government shutdown in 2013, according to the Office of Management and Budget almost 850,000 federal employees were furloughed for a combined total of 6.6 million work days. Given the Commonwealth’s high number of federal employees and federal contracting dollars, as well as Virginia’s huge veteran population – which is one of the highest per capita in the country –  USA Today calculated that Virginia took a bigger hit financially than any other state.