WASHINGTON, D.C., September 26th- House Appropriations Committee Ranking Democratic Member Rep. Norm Dicks made the following statement after Senate passage of a clean Continuing Resolution:
“I am encouraged by the news of the Senate agreement to approve a version of a continuing appropriations bill to fund the government through Nov. 18th and avoid any suggestion of a shutdown. This was the right thing to do and it also eliminates the need to cut an important program in the Department of Energy budget that would have cost thousands of jobs at this precarious time.
“The bill that the Republican majority rammed through the House last week slashed the Energy Dept.’s Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) loan guarantee program to offset emergency spending for disaster relief in the current fiscal year. Fortunately there was little support for that bill in the Senate, and the agreement reached today eliminates the need for this offset so it preserves an estimated 10,000 jobs in the ATVM program, which currently has 18 pending loan applications in progress.
“At this point I hope that the House Leadership would avoid any further disruption by allowing this non-controversial Continuing Resolution to be approved in the House later this week."
Source: U.S. Department of HCA
