Senate plots permanent end to government shutdowns with bipartisan push
FIRST ON FOX: The Senate is taking another step to prevent government shutdowns, this time to stop them from happening altogether. It’s a move that comes after Sen. John Kennedy,...
By Fox News · Fox News
FIRST ON FOX: The Senate is taking another step to prevent government shutdowns, this time to stop them from happening altogether. It’s a move that comes after Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. , successfully changed the Senate rules to prevent lawmakers in the upper chamber from being paid during shutdowns — a play designed to ensure that senators feel the same pain as federal workers during future closures. But Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., are taking things a step further to outright prevent government shutdowns from ever happening again. SENATE TAKES MAJOR FIRST STEP TO PREVENT FUTURE SHUTDOWNS WITH PAINFUL ACCOUNTABILITY PLAY Lankford has long been pushing his Prevent Government Shutdowns Act, and was nearly successful in passing it years ago. Now, with momentum still fresh from Kennedy’s rule change, he plans to reintroduce the legislation and fast-track it to a floor vote. Lankford contended in a statement to Fox News Digital that Americans had grown wary of "worthless government shutdown drama and Congress using federal workers and government services as pawns in political standoffs." "The Prevent Government Shutdowns Act ends government shutdowns forever with a simple idea: if Congress doesn't do its job, Congress doesn't get to go home," he said. "We shift the pressure off the American people and onto the people they elected. We came within three votes of passing this before, and it is time to finish the job." SENATORS AGREE TO GO WITHOUT PAY DURING SHUTDOWNS AFTER HISTORIC CLOSURES LEFT WORKERS UNPAID In the event of another shutdown, the legislation would automatically trigger a short-term funding extension to keep the government open for 14 days at a time. It would also install strict limits on lawmakers and their staff by preventing them from embarking on taxpayer-funded travel outside of Washington, D.C. It would also nix congressional delegations overseas and prevent lawmakers from taking a recess, a key point of criticism against…