U.S. Representative Peter DeFazio (D. Ore.) held a town hall meeting in Eugene Friday to address the government shutdown. President Obama and Congress finally came to an agreement on Wednesday night and signed a bill that brought the United States government back to life and ended a 16-day shutdown.
The bill temporarily restores budget authority at current spending levels until Jan. 15, and lifts the debt ceiling until Feb. 7, which could result in another government shutdown if Congress is unable to resolve the current spending and deficit issues.
Economists at Standard & Poor’s estimated roughly $24 billion in economic loss as a direct result of the government shutdown, but the total impact is still unknown.
Peter DeFazio, a U.S. representative for Oregon’s 4th congressional district, which includes Eugene, recently returned to Oregon after spending time in Washington to work on the bill that eventually reopened the government.
“This shutdown of the government was irresponsible, disruptive, unnecessary and expensive,” DeFazio said. “The Tea Party faction of the Republican Party shut down the government in a vain attempt to either repeal or delay the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.”
The Affordable Care Act, which was signed into law in March 2010, aims to reform the health care industry by giving more Americans access to affordable and quality health insurance, and to reduce the growth in health care spending in the U.S., according to white house officials.
The shutdown, which furloughed roughly 800,000 federal workers and halted many government services, began on Oct. 1 after House republicans rejected a temporary funding measure until President Obama defunded or delayed his healthcare act. When a compromise could not be reached on Sept. 30, the government was shut down.
DeFazio, a member of the Democratic Party, expressed his disapproval of the shutdown and pointed out that the minority ultra-right-winged Tea Party frightened the majority Republican Party into supporting the government shutdown.
“When people are so irresponsible as to shut down the government of the United States, costing billions of dollars to taxpayers, suspending vital services and then threatening the full faith and credit of the U.S., I think they deserve a little criticism,” he said.
DeFazio said that due to the failure of the Republican Party, the Department of Defense estimated a $2 billion loss in productivity, among other huge economic losses.
“We have a $600 billion deficit,” DeFazio said. “If we eliminate that $600 billion from the government this year, that’s everything the government does domestically. We can’t pretend we can get there just by making cuts. It has to be a balanced approach.”
DeFazio explained that even if the government were to eliminate two-thirds of government functions and employees, including those of the Pentagon, the budget would still barely balance.
Now, after five months of delay, the Republican Party is finally agreeing to meet with the Democratic Party to discuss the budget.
“(The Republican Party) is now going to conference as they should have done months ago,” he said. “Hopefully these differences will be worked out before December 13th.”
If the government is unable to reach a bipartisan decision by Jan. 15, temporary funding for the government will yet again run out and a new round of sequestered cuts will kick in. But if by Feb. 7 the government has still not made a decision, it will also be in jeopardy of defaulting on the U.S. debt, a circumstance the congressman hopes will not happen.