Providing for Consideration of H.R. 1255, Government Shutdown Prevention Act of 2011

Floor Speech

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Mr. WOMACK. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and as a fellow freshman and colleague of his in this remarkable new class, I value his friendship and his sense of purpose.

Madam Speaker, that is precisely why I rise today in support of my bill to prevent a government shutdown. I have a unique background, having helped a family start a broadcasting company that now spans in excess of 30 years, served my country in uniform for more than 30 years, spent a little time in the financial services sector, and finally, for the last 12 years, having served as mayor of one of Arkansas's most dynamic cities and one of America's most livable cities, Rogers, Arkansas, and clearly, one of our Nation's most dynamic and fastest growing regions.

Madam Speaker, it was there I had the privilege of working side by side with executives from some of our leading corporations: Walmart, Tyson Foods, J.B. Hunt Trucking, all startup companies once upon a time and now leaders in their trade and with a global reach. These industry giants did not get where they are by ignoring their challenges. They confronted them. It's part of their genius.

It is in this context that I share with my colleagues my greatest frustration: having been elected by the citizens of Arkansas's Third District to come to Washington, D.C., and help deliver our country to a better future, only to find myself and my colleagues mired in the muck of Beltway politics.

We have a crisis on our hands: unsustainable deficits as far as the eye can see, a national debt nearing statutory limitation, and overreaching government bureaucracy intruding into the lives and businesses of every sector of society, people struggling to find work so they can pursue the American Dream. And, Madam Speaker, they've elected this Congress to face our Nation's toughest issues head-on, and that's what House Republicans have been doing.

We were 3 months into this fiscal year when we took our oaths of office, and, without a budget, we went straight to work on the most pressing issue upon arrival: funding government for the rest of this year. And it is sad that, as I make these remarks, all we have been able to show for our work now into the month of April are temporary measures that continue to distract us away from the real work ahead: the 2012 budget.

Madam Speaker, this has to stop. The political gamesmanship going on in the upper Chamber might make for good headlines in the capital press, but it is hurting our Nation. That's why I've offered this bill to self-impose a deadline on Congress, and I'm asking my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 1255 to start the clock on the Senate to pass something we can agree to in funding government for the remainder of this year by April 6, or assuming a government shutdown, expect to have our pay withheld until we can reach agreement.

Every time we fail to address these issues, Madam Speaker, we add to the uncertainty now plaguing America, we contribute to the decline of our economy, we add to the burden of future generations, and we dash the hopes and dreams of millions of people who count on us every day.

Madam Speaker, the time is now to act.

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