**FILE** Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat (The Washington Times) more >Key Democratic lawmakers aren’t going to stop a Republican-led effort to keep government from shutting down because they agree: Closing down shop is “stupid policy,” one congressman said.
“A shutdown is stupid policy,” said Rep. Steny Hoyer, who said in a Newser report that the party was “not whipping at this time. But the sequester is stupid policy. We’re doing stupid things here.”
His comments came in response to an emergency Republican spending plan that shelters the Defense Department and Veterans’ Affairs from some of the sequester cuts.
Democrats in general decry its thin protection of domestic programs — but are saving their fight for another day, Newser says. And the big news in the Senate: Sen. Patty Murray is going to mark up the Senate’s first budget proposal in more than 1,000 days.
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Cheryl Chumley is a continuous news writer for The Washington Times. Previously, she was part of the start-up team for The Washington Times’ digital aggregation product, Times247. She’s also a 2008-2009 Robert Novak journalism fellow with The Phillips Foundation. She can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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