17th District Congresswoman Cheri Bustos says the federal shutdown is unfair. Over the weekend, the U-S House passed legislation to pay federal workers retro-actively. Bustos says that at least gives them some peace of mind. She blames republicans and House Speaker John Boehner for the problem. She says he should allow members to vote on funding the government and negotiate later.
“When this is presented as ‘this is about the Affordable Care Act’, I can sit here and say there are issues with the Affordable Care Act that can be worked out and the Democrats are open to talking about that, but let’s get the government going first,” Bustos says.
On Saturday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel decided to send most of the department's 350,000 furloughed employees back to work. He cited a law that exempts civilians from the government shutdown, if they're contributing to "military morale or readiness."