OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — In a one-on-one interview Congressman Mike Flood told reporter Molly Hudson the work to find an end to the government shutdown is not going well.
'We are on day 7 now. It's not going well," Flood said.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Flood says he's not hearing anything from his leadership about plans to return to D.C. to vote on something this week.
Molly: "Are you willing to compromise ACA subsidies at this point to reopen the government?"
Flood: "First of all the bill that is in front of the Senate is a clean extension, and the ACA tax credits don't expire until the end of the year so, my point is, do the extension and then we will negotiate that in the budget that has to get done by November 21."
Flood told Molly he landed at Eppley Tuesday and workers there asked him if this was going to be resolved before payday next week.
"There are just so many unintended consequences from a shutdown and it's hard to look people in the eye and say, 'yeah I am sorry the government shut down, because it makes no sense to everyday Americans'," Flood said.
Other issues like housing affordability remain on the back burner, waiting for the government to reopen.
"We've put together kind of a comprehensive set of bills that makes using federal money to build homes easier," Flood said.
But he's hoping the president will issue an emergency declaration.
"Not only does it direct the executive branch to find ways to get through the barriers, it also makes federal programs more accessible, it potentially, hopefully as interest rates go down could bring down the mortgage rates," Flood said.
Flood says housing affordability in Washington is a bipartisan issue.
"As soon as the shutdown is over, we intend to have a full committee hearing and push our bill to the floor," Flood said.
He says if the president issues the emergency declaration before the end of the shutdown or before January first — he expects good progress next year.
