September 21, 2015

The Honorable Mitch McConnellSenate Majority LeaderThe Capitol, S-230Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable John BoehnerSpeaker of the House of RepresentativesThe Capitol, H-232Washington, DC 20510

Dear Leader McConnell and Speaker Boehner,

As Maryland and Virginia continue on the path to recovery from the worst recession since the Great Depression, a federal government shutdown at the end of this month would be catastrophic to our regional economy. A Republican induced government shutdown would wreak economic havoc on federal employees and their middle class families, and it would needlessly stifle much needed economic growth in Maryland and Virginia. As state lawmakers representing hundreds of thousands of federal workers and government contractors who do everything from cancer research to providing healthcare for our veterans, we ask you to put politics aside and to pass a clean budget by September 30th to avoid a government shutdown.

The October 2013 government shutdown had enormous economic consequences on our regional economy, shattering financial stability for many of our dedicated federal employees. Maryland lost $5 million a day in income and sales tax revenue during the 2013 government shutdown – money that was badly needed to invest in our schools, roads, and communities.1 Virginia, as the top state for federal investment per capita, disproportionately bore the brunt of the shutdown’s ensuing economic disruption.2 Our regional economy cannot again afford to lose $217 million per day – 17.6 percent of our daily economic activity – because of a government shutdown.3

During the 2013 government shutdown, nearly 800,000 federal employees were furloughed and another 1.3 million were required to come to work without knowing when their next paycheck would arrive. For these federal employees who have to balance mortgages, child care expenses, college debt, and pay for the groceries, getting furloughed or not knowing when their next paycheck will come is an unprovoked economic assault on Maryland and Virginia’s middle class. A repeat of the 2013 shutdown is an affront to the dignity of the people who make our federal government work.

We, the undersigned, strongly urge you to consider these repercussions to our regional economy, before jeopardizing our already tenuous recovery with another government shutdown.

1 Wagner, John. Washington Post. “Maryland could lose $5 million a day in tax revenue from federal shutdown, memo says.” September 26, 2013. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/maryland-could-lose-5-million-a-day-in-tax-revenue-from-federal-shutdown-memo-says/2013/09/26/e98dce62-26ab-11e3-ad0d-b7c8d2a594b9_story.html 2 Kiernan, John. WalletHub. WalletHub Shutdown Report: Most & Least Affected States.” http://wallethub.com/edu/wallethub-shutdown-report-most-least-affected-states/1111/#main-findings 3 Walshe, Shushannah. ABC News. “The Costs of the Government Shutdown.” October 17, 2013. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/10/the-costs-of-the-government-shutdown/

Sincerely,

Delegate Andrew Platt, Maryland House of Delegates, District 17Delegate Mark Sickles, Virginia House of Delegates, District 43Senator Ronald Young, Maryland Senate, District 3Senator Karen Montgomery, Maryland Senate, District 14Senator Brian Feldman, Maryland Senate, District 15Senator Susan Lee, Maryland Senate, District 16Senator Richard Madaleno, Maryland Senate, District 18Senator James Rosapepe, Maryland Senate, District 21Senator Adam Ebbin, Virginia Senate, District 30Senator Toddy Puller, Virginia Senate, District 36Senator Dave Marsden, Virginia Senate, District 37Delegate Carol Krimm, Maryland House of Delegates, District 3ADelegate Karen Lewis Young, Maryland House of Delegates, District 3ADelegate Shelly Hettleman, Maryland House of Delegate, District 11Delegate Dan Morhaim, Maryland House of Delegates, District 11Delegate Dana Stein, Maryland House of Delegates, District 11Delegate Sam Rasoul, Virginia House of Delegates, District 11Delegate Eric Ebersole, Maryland House of Delegates, District 12Delegate Clarence Lam, Maryland House of Delegates, District 12Delegate Frank Turner, Maryland House of Delegates, District 13Delegate David Fraser-Hidalgo, Maryland House of Delegates, District 15Delegate Marc Korman, Maryland House of Delegates, District 16Delegate Kumar Barve, Maryland House of Delegates, District 17Delegate Jeffrey Waldstreicher, Maryland House of Delegates, District 18Delegate David Moon, Maryland House of Delegates, District 20Delegate Will Smith, Maryland House of Delegates, District 20Delegate Alonzo Washington, Maryland House of Delegates, District 22Delegate Darryl Barnes, Maryland House of Delegates, District 25Delegate Kathleen Murphy, Virginia House of Delegates, District 34Delegate Ken Plum, Virginia House of Delegates, District 36Delegate Kaye Kory, Virginia House of Delegates, District 38Delegate Kirill Reznik, Maryland House of Delegates, District 39Delegate Shane Robinson, Maryland House of Delegates, District 39Delegate Samuel Rosenberg, Maryland House of Delegates, District 41Delegate Mary Washington, Maryland House of Delegates, District 43Delegate Scott Surovell, Virginia House of Delegates, District 44Delegate Patrick Young, Maryland House of Delegates, District 44BDelegate Cheryl Glenn, Maryland House of Delegates, District 45Delegate Cory McCray, Maryland House of Delegates, District 45Delegate Brooke Lierman, Maryland House of Delegates, District 46Delegate Diana Fennell, Maryland House of Delegates, District 47ADelegate Jimmy Tarlau, Maryland House of Delegates, District 47ADelegate Rip Sullivan, Virginia House of Delegates, District 48

Delegate Alfonso Lopez, Virginia House of Delegates, District 49Delegate Marcus Simon, Virginia House of Delegates, District 53Delegate Monty Mason, Virginia House of Delegates, District 93