Congressman Don Bacon (NE-02) released the following statement after government funding expired:

"Government shutdowns reflect dysfunction and hyper partisanship.  We should be sitting together and developing a bipartisan solution to secure our border, reform antiquated immigration policies, and find a permanent solution for our DACA youth so they don’t have to worry about deportation.  Shutting down the government is not the way to solve this problem.

This same dysfunction has caused grave damage to our military.  Our military has been cut 18% since 2010 and has suffered through 36 Continuing Resolutions, putting on hold new programs and spending increases to fix broken ships and give more flying time to undertrained pilots.  Half of the Navy’s aircraft can’t fly today, 53 of 58 combat brigades in the Army are unable to fight tonight, and our Air Force has the fewest and oldest aircraft in the history of the Service.  Dysfunctional partisanship in Congress has caused this deterioration in the legislative process.  Specifically, the Senate Democrats refuse to appropriate the money for defense that has already been authorized by Congress.  They are holding our national security hostage for their partisan domestic priorities that are totally unrelated to defense.

When the dysfunction in Congress causes a government shutdown, it is shameful for Congress to be paid their salaries while our Federal employees and military personnel have their pay withheld.  I support legislation that treats Congress the same as federal employees when the government shuts down.  Congress should not get special exceptions. 

This is a time for statesmanship and not partisanship."