Golden, Bacon, Case, Fitzpatrick Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Avert Government Shutdown

WASHINGTON — Congressmen Jared Golden (ME-02), Don Bacon (NE-02), Ed Case (HI-01), and Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01) announced the introduction of the Bipartisan Keep America Open Act, bipartisan legislation to prevent a government shutdown, provide funding for disaster relief, military aid for Ukraine, and to address the crisis at the southern border. The bill builds on a framework endorsed by the 64 members of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus and incorporates a bipartisan bill introduced earlier this year by Golden that would afford the Administration expulsion authority at the southern border. 

“The only way to avert a shutdown is to come to the table to negotiate a bipartisan agreement,” said Golden. “Our bill keeps the government open, addresses the crisis at the border, maintains support for Ukraine, and stands with Americans as their communities recover from natural disasters. It is past time for both Republicans and Democrats to do what’s right for the country.”

Included in Golden’s bipartisan bill are provisions to:

• Fund the government at Fiscal Year 2023 levels until January 11, 2024;
• Provide $24 billion in funding for Ukraine with mandatory transparency requirements to ensure there is no waste, fraud, or abuse;
• Provide $16 billion in funding for communities across the country recovering from natural disasters;
• Afford the Biden Administration, as per a Golden bill introduced earlier this Congress, expulsion authority for migrants who come to the United States illegally as a means of addressing any influx of migrants at the southern border in the absence of Title 42 which expired earlier this year;
• Adopt the bipartisan budget process reform recommendations of the House Committee on Modernization and Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform to increase transparency, restore regular order, and prevent excessive use of CRs.

Golden has been a member of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, where he currently serves as Whip, since the 117th Congress. Last year, the Lugar Center and Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy ranked Golden 7th out of 435 members on their Bipartisan Index for the 117th Congress (2021-2022).Since the 118th Congress began in January of 2023, Golden has sponsored 7 bipartisan bills and cosponsored 114 bills, over 80 percent of which were bipartisan. 

Since his election to Congress, Golden has been a leading voice on bipartisan efforts to secure  the  border, provide resources  for rural  Main Streets, and eliminate  corruption  from  government and elections. This Congress, he has also repeatedly pushed House leadership and the Biden White House to skip brinkmanship in favor of good faith negotiations on issues like the debt ceiling. 

The bill text can be found here. 

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