[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 114 (Wednesday, September 3, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H6723]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             LEGISLATION TO ENSURE NO GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWNS

  (Mr. GEKAS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, very shortly now, September 30, the fiscal 
year, the current fiscal year, will end. For a decade now, I have been 
proposing legislation that when such an event occurs, and it has 
occurred too often without new appropriations taking their place, a new 
budget in place, a Government shutdown is in the foreseeable future.
  The legislation that I have proposed would end that phenomenon by 
saying when at the end of the fiscal year no budget has been put in 
place, then last year's appropriations will automatically go into 
effect until a new budget takes effect.
  We have had the Congress of the United States just a few months ago 
pass such legislation only to be vetoed by the President. It is now 
time to say, ``I told you so; we're facing another Government 
shutdown.''
  The chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations will do all in 
his power, I am sure, to prevent such an event, but my legislation 
would provide insurance that no Government shutdown would occur.

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