Over the weekend, the Department of Defense (DOD) announced that almost all of its 350,000 furloughed civilian employees, including those in the National Guard and Reserve components, would return to work in the coming days.

This includes over 700 members of the Arkansas National Guard that were furloughed last week.

I am pleased that Secretary Hagel has cleared the way for these men and women to return to work, but they should’ve never been furloughed in the first place. Prior to the government shutdown, Congress passed and the President signed into law the Pay Our Military Act to make sure both active duty service members and DOD civilian employees receive pay during the government shutdown.

The language of the Pay Our Military Act was specifically written to avoid the “exempted” and “essential” tags. The law is explicitly clear: all members of the Armed Forces, including Reserve component personnel serving in an active status, will be paid in the event of a government shutdown. Further, the bill requires that civilian Department of Defense personnel “providing support to members of the Armed Forces” continue to receive their pay and allowances.

Late last week, I joined forty-nine of my Senate colleagues to ask Secretary Hagel to make sure that all members of the military are compensated for their service during the shutdown.  We clearly stated that all service members, and the civilians that support them, should receive equitable and fair treatment under this law. We urged him to use the authority granted by Congress to maintain our military readiness without interruption.

I am pleased that the Administration took steps to ensure that the spirit of the “Pay Our Military Act” is upheld. It would be beneficial if the Administration made more common-sense decisions like this to help Americans impacted by the shutdown, rather than looking for ways to exacerbate the pain.  

I’m disappointed that the partisanship in Congress has resulted in a government shutdown. What is most frustrating is that this directly impacts the services Americans rely on. A government shutdown has real implications for seniors, veterans and hardworking Arkansas families who rely on the services provided by federal agencies. We need to work together to find common ground to keep the government operating so we can eliminate the threat of interruptions in government services. 

In the past week, I voted to continue funding the government while making policy changes to the President’s healthcare law. Each of these votes was in support of House-passed legislation. Unfortunately, these bills did not have the support of the majority of the Senate and triggered a government shutdown for the first time in 17-years. 

While I don’t believe a continuing resolution is the responsible way to fund the government because it is a short-term funding solution, we need to find common ground to provide the services of government. We will continue to encourage long-term planning and that begins with basics of passing a budget. This is the most basic level of governing. We need this framework to rein in spending and eliminate the waste and abuse of government programs. We need to pass appropriations bills. This proper process is necessary so we avoid interruptions in government like we’re experiencing today. 

The shutdown is already impacting many Arkansas families. My staff is here ready to help and hear about how this shutdown impacts you. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us so we can better serve you. You can always contact our office by email or reach us by  phone. 

To stay up-to-date with what is happening I encourage you to monitor upcoming votes in the House and the Senate. 

Our efforts to avoid a government shutdown 

Floor speech – Boozman calls on Senate to consider House-passed bill that defunds Obamacare 

Press Release – Senate should take up bill to delay Obamacare and keep government operating 

Press Release - Boozman Statement on Votes to Defund Obamacare and Avoid a Government Shutdown

Fact vs. Fiction - The Government Shutdown and Obamacare

Learn more about the impact of a government shutdown   

Office of Personnel Management (OPM)- Guidance for federal agencies and employees in the event of a shutdown furlough

The Government Shutdown and Obamacare

What Does Senator Boozman Think of the Government Shutdown?

A government shutdown has real implications for seniors, veterans and hardworking Arkansas families who rely on the services provided by federal agencies.

Boozman has tried to prevent a shutdown, but there has been no willingness to on the part of Majority Leader Reid to compromise. He has refused to even allow the Senate to consider the last three House-passed continuing resolutions. And now he just shot down an effort to form a committee between the two chambers to resolve this and has stated he will not entertain the idea of individual spending bills to keep agencies like the

It’s time to come together and find commonsense solutions to our challenges. America functions best when we work through our differences and come together and address our country's problems.

Does Senator Boozman Oppose Obamacare?

YES. Senator Boozman has been fighting against Obamacare for nearly five years. He opposed Obamacare when Nancy Pelosi brought it to the floor of the House of Representatives. He’s voted to repeal Obamacare. He’s voted to defund ObamaCare. He’s voted to chisel away at parts of Obamacare. And he’s fought against Obamacare’s waste, abuse, and fraud.

Does Senator Boozman Support Defunding Obamacare?

YES. Senator Boozman has always supported defunding, delaying, repealing, and replacing Obamacare.

Does Senator Boozman Support the “Defund Obamacare Political Campaign” associated with the current CR?

NO. The current “Defund Obamacare Effort” is a misleading campaign. Some suggest that if Republicans threaten to shut down the government, we can force Harry Reid to defund Obamacare. This is simply not true. 

As Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) has said, the defunding claims are “tremendously erroneous” and “not intellectually honest.” The independent Congressional Research Service concluded that even with a government shutdown, Obamacare would remain alive and funded.  The vast majority of Obamacare spending is mandatory spending that Congress does not control.

Case in point: On the same day the government shut down, the Obamacare exchanges still launched, albeit with problems as we predicted. The wheels in motion cannot be stopped by defunding because of the manner in which the program is funded. We need another approach to stop this terrible law.

Does Senator Boozman Support a Government Shutdown to Repeal Obamaare?

NO. Causing a government shutdown does not move us closer to repealing or defunding Obamacare. In fact, shutting down the government is making it harder for us to repeal Obamacare. Instead of focusing on higher healthcare premiums, government rationing, Medicare cuts, and President Obama's false promises, the White House and the Senate Majority are playing political games. This distraction plays into President Obama's hand

Moreover, a shutdown is the wrong way to govern. In this fragile economy, it is simply not fair to hold Americans hostage for political gain. It’s not the right way to run government. It’s the very reason the American people hold Washington in low regard.

We must repeal Obamacare. However, we need to be smart about how we oppose this President and his agenda. President Obama will not sign legislation that destroys his signature initiative and the Democratic Senate majority won’t approve this legislation that accomplishes this. Moving forward, Senator Boozman will continue to fight against this failed law so the American people demand its full repeal.

Why did Senator Boozman support cloture on the Continuing Resolution?

Senator Boozman supported each of the House-passed bills to keep the government operating. The first bill the House sent over would have accomplished our goals of keeping the government operating and defunding Obamacare. Avoiding a government shutdown is a good policy that protects hardworking Americans. Unfortunately, that bill was changed. Majority Leader Harry Reid stripped language to defund this problematic law and Senator Boozman could no longer support it. This is not the end of our fight. We will continue our efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare with reforms that contain costs.

Senator Boozman voted for cloture on the first House-passed bill because it would defund Obamacare and keep the government operating. It defies logic to vote against a bill that accomplishes our objectives.

Failure to have obtained cloture would have only resulted in a government shutdown, which is eventually where Majority Leader Reid led us. However, failing to move that first bill forward would have put the blame for a shutdown squarely on the Republicans. A government shutdown doesn’t repeal Obamacare. The vast majority of Obamacare spending is mandatory spending that Congress does not control.

If President Obama were to somehow receive a continuing resolution that defunded his landmark law, he would veto it. We would need 67 votes in the Senate to override that veto. Simple math shows you that with a Democrat Majority, the numbers are simply not there.

There was no end game with this strategy, outside of a government shutdown, which is why Senator Boozman could not support it.

If you had been told anything different would result from voting against cloture, you were being misled.

Wasn't this the last chance to end Obamacare?  

Not by a long shot. This program is falling apart faster than it can roll out. We have seen the snags in the programs when it launched and there will continue to be problems. Leaders who helped usher the bill through Congress have called its implementation a ‘trainwreck.’ We have opportunities to capitalize on that by picking it apart piece by piece. 

With the exchanges opening tomorrow, we see it is clearly not ready to provide the American people what they were promised; affordable health care. We have seen the problems caused with already with implementing this problematic law. The authors and opponents of the law called it a ‘train wreck.’ It costs too much, hurts American job creators and increases premiums for Arkansas families.

Americans overwhelmingly reject this law. They also overwhelmingly want to avoid a government shutdown, which we are hours away from if the Senate fails to act on a bill to keep the government running.

That is why I support the bill the House of Representatives passed over the weekend to delay Obamacare for one year and keep the government open. The President has already granted multiple exemptions from the law to his political allies. Let’s be fair and give the same relief to every American.

Along with that bill, Majority Leader Reid should also bring up the House-passed bill to ensure our troops are paid if the Senate Majority refuses to work with the House Majority to avoid a shutdown.  For our brave men and women in the armed services, receiving their salary to pay their bills as a result of Washington’s inaction is the last thing they need to worry about.