Norcross: We Must Stop Governing From Crisis-To-Crisis
InsiderNJ
February 15, 2019
Today, Congressman Donald Norcross (NJ-01) issued the following statement on his vote in favor of the appropriations deal that prevents another shutdown:
“Our country hasn’t even licked its wounds from President Trump’s egotistical, politically-motivated temper tantrum that forced 420,000 federal workers to work without pay and 380,000 to face the uncertainty of a forced furlough, and we cannot make our workforce go through it again. And, that is not even taking into account the thousands more federal contractors who went without pay, as well. American workers undeservedly were the ones that suffered during the longest-ever, 35-day shutdown and that’s despicable. I voted in favor of today’s funding bill to keep our government open because of America’s workers and my fundamental belief that we must stop governing from crisis-to-crisis.
“There are still casualties out there; for example, we still must pass my Fairness for Federal Contractors Act to provide back pay for the 1.2 million federal contractors who deserve their lost wages. I implore my colleagues to pass it separately, so we can move forward with full faith from all federal workers.
“Now, we need to stop making partisan, unconstitutional threats about non-fact-based ‘emergencies,’ and instead govern together as Americans expect and deserve. Let’s raise the minimum wage together, robustly invest in updating our aging infrastructure together and take new strides to help those struggling with the disease of addiction together.”