FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 2, 2013
Contact:
Emily Holubowich
[email protected]
Congress Must Stop Playing Games, Open the Government, and Stop Sequestration
NDD United—an alliance of more than 3,200 national, state, and local organizations working to
protect investments in core government functions—strongly opposes piecemeal attempts to make
the government shutdown livable. Not because these cuts don’t place unnecessary burden on the
American people and economy. Indeed, the individuals and families our organizations represent are
right now confronting the shutdown’s negative effects around the nation. We urge you to oppose
cherry-picking certain priorities for funding in a piecemeal fashion because this is not a credible
solution to this self-imposed, budget crisis. The only credible solution is a wholesale solution that
opens the government for business.
In the ongoing debate about whether or not to fund the government, we are gravely concerned that
Congress is ignoring an equally critical issue—the level of funding for fiscal 2014 and how to stop
sequestration. Sequestration by design cuts deeply and indiscriminately. Both parties agree it was
never meant to happen. Yet, it’s happening. Without a comprehensive and balanced solution,
sequestration will keep happening for the next nine years.
That means the priorities Congress now claims to want to fund during the shutdown will continue to
erode: opportunities in medical research lost; public defenders and FBI agents furloughed; national
parks closed; lab capacity to track outbreaks diminished; teachers fired; students denied Head Start;
seniors going hungry; veterans becoming homeless.
While Congress plays politics, Americans suffer. Damage control is not a sound fiscal policy. Congress
must reject efforts to pick favorites, open the government, and fix sequestration, once and for all.