House Speaker John Boehner will campaign in Denver Tuesday for U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Aurora. (Pete Marovich/Bloomberg )
WASHINGTON — Colorado’s three U.S. House Democrats joined with about 120 of their party colleagues this week in asking that Speaker John Boehner keep the lower chamber in session — every day — until a deal is reached to avert a government shutdown.
The request from Reps. Diana DeGette, Ed Perlmutter and Jared Polis comes just days before an Oct. 1 deadline in which Congress and the White House must agree to a stopgap spending bill or else close down federal agencies.
It also comes at a time when both Democrats and Republicans are jockeying to gain the political high ground in the event the two sides can’t come to an agreement — a growing possibility given the stark division between the parties on whether the temporary funding measure should include money for Planned Parenthood.
“The American people deserve to know that their elected representatives are working around the clock to avoid another self-inflicted Washington wound on our national and local economies,” wrote the lawmakers to Boehner. “As the Speaker of the House, you have the power to change the legislative calendar. We strongly urge you to keep the House of Representatives in session every day from now until we reach a deal.”
