Courtney Applauds Navy Decision to Return Groton Personnel to Work
WASHINGTON—Today, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-2) issued the following statement after Defense Secretary Hagel announced that he would interpret the Pay Our Military Act more broadly, and return thousands of civilian Defense Department employees—including over 200 Navy shipbuilding support personnel in Groton -- to work:
“With critical Navy personnel returning to their jobs on site at Electric Boat, any impact of the government shutdown on our submarine program has been effectively averted for the short-term. Electric Boat now has both the funding and the Navy staff support it needs to continue its production as scheduled, and keep their employees at work.
“While this is great short-term news, the fact remains that no industry or operations closely tied to the federal government can weather a shutdown indefinitely. That is why it is critical that Speaker Boehner listen to the majority of the House of Representatives, and bring forward the Senate-passed bill immediately for a vote. He has the opportunity to end this shutdown today, put hundreds of thousands of Americans back to work, and ensure that all functions of the government can begin moving forward again without further disruption.”
On the first day of the shutdown, Courtney wrote to Secretary Hagel urging him to interpret the Pay Our Military Act more broadly, in order to return civilian Defense Department employees to work.
In his letter, Congressman Courtney wrote:
"I strongly share your belief that the best way to end this impasse and put these people back to work is to enact a clean and bipartisan funding resolution that re-opens the government. I remain committed not only to that urgent task, but also working towards a bipartisan agreement on completing a full budget for 2014 – one that provides certainty to our federal agencies and our economy, and that ends the growing damage of sequestration.
"However, at this time the outlook for even completing a short term continuing resolution is unclear at best. While I am hopeful for a quick resolution, it is possible that a shutdown could continue for at least a few days, if not longer. In that event, I urge that you use all authority available to you to enact the broadest interpretation possible when implementing any furloughs under the government shutdown, with the goal of keeping as many of our hard working civilians in the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security at work in support of our military and our nation’s security."