After voting for a bill to reopen the federal government and avoid a default on the federal debt, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree released the following statement:
"Although I'm pleased that there was a bipartisan deal to get the government open and avoid a default on the debt, we could have voted on this same bill two weeks ago. Instead, hundreds of thousands of workers have been furloughed and many more have gone without pay. Meanwhile seniors and veterans have had to worry about getting the benefits they have earned. All of this because an extreme faction of the Republican party held the economy and the country hostage over their obsession with undermining affordable health care."
"Now that we passed a bill to reopen the government and avoid a debt default, it's time for Congress to focus on what's really important to Americans—jobs and the economy, and avoid any more of these manufactured crises."
The bill Pingree voted for tonight includes language that requires state workers paid with federal funds who had been furloughed to receive their full pay from October 1st. In addition, the bill guarantees that states will be reimbursed if they paid the salaries of workers (who are normally paid with federal funds) who stayed on the job during the shutdown.
The bill passed tonight will also provide back pay for federal workers. Pingree had previously co-sponsored a bill that would have also guaranteed back pay. That bill passed the House unanimously (407-0) but was not brought up in the Senate.
