WASHINGTON, D.C. – As the federal government approaches another budget deadline on December 20th, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) is joining a bipartisan group of colleagues to introduce the Prevent Government Shutdowns Act. If signed into law, the commonsense bill would set up an automatic Continuing Resolution (CR) at the current spending level until an agreement is enacted, preventing a government-wide shutdown, continuing critical services and operations, and keeping federal employees at work while Congress negotiates. In addition to Senator King, the bill is supported by U.S. Senators James Lankford (R-Okla.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa).

“When Washington’s dysfunction repeatedly hurts hardworking Americans, it’s clear that something needs to change,” said Senator King. “We’ve seen the impacts of shutdowns too many times: families left struggling, local small businesses seeing stark declines in their traffic, and Americans scrambling to receive the federal services they rely on.  We can fix this – let’s come together on a bipartisan basis and make government shutdowns a thing of the past.”

The bipartisan proposal is a simple solution to address the threat of government shutdowns. If all appropriations bills are not passed by Congress and signed by the President by October 1, no official travel will be allowed for Office of Management and Budget (OMB) leadership or staff, Members of Congress, or their committee and personal staffs.

The bill requires that during a period of lapsed appropriations, there will be:

• No taxpayer-funded travel allowances for official business (except one return flight to Washington, DC) for the following:  White House OMB staff and leadership; Members of the House and Senate; Committee and personal staff of the House and Senate
• Official travel permitted within the national capital region (DC metro-area)
• No travel reimbursement (meals, per diem, or any type, including for state and district staff)
• No use of campaign funds by congressional offices to supplement official duties or travel expenses
• No other votes will be in order in the House and Senate unless they pertain to passage of the appropriations bills or mandatory quorum calls in the Senate
• No motions to recess or adjourn the Senate or House for more than 23 hours are in order
• No other matter can be considered on the floor of the Senate unless it relates to: General appropriations measures (including a CR); Daily mandatory quorum calls;
• Implementation of an automatic continuing resolution (CR) on October 1 at last year’s spending levels until passage of a law to appropriate all remaining lapsed spending for that fiscal year
• Expedited consideration of bipartisan appropriations bills is provided for after 30 days to ensure that each chamber is further incentivized to process spending bills and fund the government
• A required recorded quorum call vote each day at noon in the House and Senate to confirm attendance, which keeps Members in town for mandatory votes
• An effective date of September 30, 2020.

During the 35-day partial shutdown at the beginning of 2019, Senator King made reopening the federal government his top priority. His January podcast featured Senator Kaine and Kristen Miale, President of the Good Shepherd Food Bank in Auburn, discussing the effects of the shutdown on federal employees in Maine and around the country. Senator King also participated in a bipartisan appeal on the floor of the U.S. Senate, and in a video message emphasizing the negative impact the government shutdown is having on people across Maine – including U.S. Coast Guard personnel and families. In addition, Senator King has worked to reduce the impact of the 2019 shutdown on federal workers. He was a cosponsor of the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act, a bipartisan bill to ensure that affected federal workers will receive back pay when the government is reopened, and was a cosponsor of the Fair Compensation for Low-Wage Contractor Employees Act, a bill which would have secured back pay for the federal contractor employees who went without pay during the government shutdown.