Ohio Senator Rob Portman is trying to pass a bill that would prevent another government shutdown in the future.
If lawmakers haven’t approved a new budget in time, Portman’s bill would keep the government open with the same level of spending--but for a limited period of time.
“There is an incentive to get the committees of congress- the apportion committees back to work by saying after 4 months of continuing the funding from the previous year there would be a 1% reduction in funding across the board. That would affect defense, it would affect social services, everything. I think it’s something that both Republicans and Democrats would not like to see therefore, it would help to get people back to work.”
The legislation now has 25 Republican co-sponsors. The senator says even Republicans and Democrats that aren’t on his bill admit something different needs to be done. He is hopeful that a productive resolution can be reached in the next two and a half weeks before another shutdown could occur February 15th.
