Boxer warns of big problems if GOP can’t fix House leader crisis
The continuing upheaval within the Republican House leadership is making it virtually impossible to get anything done in Congress, California Sen. Barbara Boxer said Friday.
Deadlines are rapidly approaching on a number of bills desperately needed to keep the government running, and there’s still no agreement on what will be done, she said.
Congress also needs to pass a budget by early December, but Democrats won’t go along with the Republican proposal because it calls for cuts for such things as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Community Health Care Centers, affordable housing, job training and government Pell Grants for college students.
[...] the ongoing GOP dispute over who should replace outgoing Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, is pitting very conservative Republican House members against very, very conservative members, and it has spilled over into just about every part of the legislative process, stalling action on a variety of measures.
Boxer did get some good news Friday when the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee released its long-term transportation bill, probably clearing the way for a joint conference committee to resolve any differences between the House bill and the Senate bill passed in June.
Unless a bill is passed by Congress and signed by President Obama in the next two weeks, federal money for roads, bridges, transit and other transportation needs will run out, which would be a disaster for California.
On Friday, for example, she joined with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., in a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Agriculture and the Army Corps of Engineers, asking what preparations they are making for an El Niño event that could drop record amounts of rain on the state in the coming months.
On Thursday, heavy rains in Southern California caused slides that closed parts of Interstate 5 and other highways and left hundreds of cars stranded in deep, clinging mud.
After a four-year drought and wildfires that have ravaged the state, strong storms could cause widespread flooding and dangerous landslides across the state, Boxer said.
“What mitigation projects have your agencies completed in California to reduce the risk of severe flooding and to address the impact of drought and wildfire?” Boxer and Feinstein asked in their letter.