Rep. Craig Calls on Speaker Johnson to Bring House Republicans Back to Washington, Pass Bill to Pay Troops During Shutdown
WASHINGTON, DC – This week, U.S. Representative Angie Craig called on House Speaker Mike Johnson to bring House Republicans back to Washington, DC and pass a bill to ensure military servicemembers are paid during the government shutdown. Speaker Johnson has kept the House out of session for the duration of the government shutdown, preventing the House from passing any bill to ensure essential workers, like members of the military, TSA agents and air traffic controllers, are paid.
If Congress does not pass this legislation by the October 15th deadline, nearly three million military families will miss their next paycheck.
In a letter to Speaker Johnson, Rep. Craig and 78 of her Democratic colleagues urged the Speaker to bring legislation like the Pay Our Troops Act to a vote and negotiate with Democrats to pass a government funding bill that will reopen the government and lower health care costs for everyday Americans.
“Congress must work across the aisle and in good faith to end this shutdown, find common ground, protect Americans’ health care, and ensure there is no undue harm to our service members and their families,” the Members wrote. “While negotiations to re-open the government continue, we encourage you to bring bipartisan, commonsense legislation to the floor to ensure that military service members, as well as civilian personnel and contractors, will continue to receive pay during a government shutdown.”
“This is a moment not only to support our troops, but also to show the American people and the world that our service members and our national security are above politics and the bedrock of our nation, the Members concluded. “We urge you to support America’s military members and bring legislation to ensure that there is no disruption in troop pay during this shutdown to the House Floor for a vote immediately.”
Rep. Craig cosponsors the Pay Our Troops Act and the Pay Our Military Act, bipartisan bills to ensure that servicemembers as well as civilian employees and contractors are paid during the shutdown.
You can read the full text of the letter here.
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