Tester votes to prevent government shutdown

(U.S. Senate) – Senator Jon Tester issued the following statement after voting for a short-term budget to prevent the government from shutting down:

“Preventing a government shutdown should be the easiest part of Congress’ job, yet we avoided it by the skin of our teeth. Some folks in Congress have forgotten that the last government shutdown cost our nation’s economy billions of dollars. Congress cannot keep governing by crisis and expecting the American people to pick up the slack. For the sake of our economy, we must do better.”

The Senate’s short-term budget bill will keep the government open until December 11. It passed by a vote of 78-20. It now heads to the House where they must pass the bill before midnight tonight to avoid a shutdown.