This week’s resolution was high time for us to override the objections of a small group of Tea Party members of Congress and agree to re-open our government and raise our debt ceiling. It was high time for us to get hundreds of thousands of workers back to work and make sure that this country did not fall into default.
While I am completing treatments for lung cancer and am not yet back in Washington, I would have proudly joined all of the Democrats in voting Yes.
This shutdown has devastated a number of government workers on Long Island – and their families. And to all of us, as taxpayers, it has needlessly cost our economy $24 billion.
This moving from crisis to crisis is debilitating to our effort to get our economy on track. There is no reason, after we have seen the effects of this shutdown and threat to our national prestige, that we should go through this again in January and February.
Our country has enormous challenges that we need to tackle, and it is important that we do so in a way that brings us together, not tears us apart — as has been the case over the last few weeks. I am hopeful that this resolution represents a process of healing.
Let’s work together to get this great country back to work and grow our economy for all Americans.
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy
New York’s 4th District
