For Immediate Release
Tuesday, November 14, 1995
AFSCME President Reacts to GOP Budget Stonewalling
Washington, DC —Gerald W. McEntee, president of the 1.3 million member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, today lambasted Republican leaders for refusing to work with President Clinton to avoid the current budget crisis.
"Republican leaders have once again shown their willingness to let working Americans pay the price for their ill-conceived, mean-spirited, and draconian plans for the fiscal budget," McEntee said. "By failing to complete their work on time, and refusing to work with President Clinton to avoid the current crisis, Republicans have revealed a cavalier, irresponsible attitude toward government employees and the people they serve."
McEntee said that despite repeated warnings from President Clinton, Republicans continued to deliberately undermine the legislative process by attaching extraneous provisions to their budget proposals. McEntee reiterrated strong support for the President's refusal to sign such a bill. "This Congress was charged with one task," McEntee continued. "And that task was to work with the President in resolving the budget crisis. Instead, GOP law makers deliberately sabotaged the debate by attaching inappropriate additions to their budget bill."
"Once again, Republicans have dug in their heels and refused to work with the President in passing a budget that is fair to the elderly and working middle class."
"By forcing President Clinton to veto this budget package," McEntee said, "Republicans have not only taken federal government employees -- as well as many District of Columbia workers hostage, but Americans in general. The losers in this most recent GOP fiasco are not only federal employees who were sent home today, but the American people who face the possibility of being governed by people in Congress who care more about politics,than what's best for the country."
McEntee pointed to the recent shift of American voters away from the Republican agenda, and said that continued stonewalling on the budget debate will ultimately galvanize voters against the GOP in next year's presidential election.
"Voters will remember what the so-called Contract With America did to elderly and middle class working people," McEntee said. "And they'll remember how, on this day, Republicans were willing to sabotage passage of a stop-gap spending bill, no matter what the cost to working people."
AFSCME, with more than 1.3 million members, is the nation's largest public employee and health care workers union. AFSCME also represents more than 6,000 federal employees.
