08.16.13
John Carter warns of consequences of government shutdown
The local Chamber of Commerce news informs us that U.S. Rep. Carter updates Cedar Park Chamber of Commerce on national issues.
Carter used the opportunity to discuss the national budget, his role on the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations and his ongoing efforts to enact bipartisan immigration reform. All three, he said, are uphill battles. The U.S. House and Senate budgets are drastically different, Carter said, and unlikely to align. The congressman also criticized sequestration, which resulted in across-the-board spending cuts earlier this year. Perhaps more of a concern, he said, is the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare. The U.S. House has successfully voted 40 times to repeal the health care law, yet the Democratic-controlled Senate has not taken up the issue. The Committee on Appropriations has threatened to withhold passing a continuing resolution before the end of the fiscal year Sept. 30, possibly resulting in a government shutdown—prompting Carter to ask the 150 people in attendance if they supported such a scenario, which drew varying levels of response. “It’s a very popular notion,” he said. “[A government shutdown] sounds good. … But it has consequences.” Those consequences include first and foremost closing all national parks, he said. Then Social Security checks would stop being issued, followed by the closure of the Federal Aviation Administration—resulting in the loss of air-traffic controllers—as well as the potential closure of the FBI and the failure to pay members of various military branches, he said. Congress would also stop being paid, Carter said, although his concern rests more on the families of soldiers. [Emphasis added] “Just remember: I told you what was going to happen,” he said.
That sounds like, but it’s hard to be sure, Carter trying to talk those pushing for a government shutdown to kill Obamacare off the ledge. It also seems clear that it’s a vote Carter, and many in his party, don’t want to take. Even though he has repeatedly voted to kill Obamacare, it’s not clear how Carter would vote on that. It was reported he said anything regarding issues like this.
The Chamber of Commerce didn’t likely want to hear about that.
Eye on Williamson » First Carter, now Cornyn angers tea party said,
August 29, 2013 at 4:13 pm
[…] falling out with the tea party in his district, Tea party Blowback in Salado. He also warned of consequences of agovernment shutdown to defund Obamacare. And now Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) is having his own issues with the tea […]