BRUNSWICK, ME – In a letter today with several of his colleagues, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine), a member of the Senate Budget Committee, urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to schedule bipartisan budget negotiations immediately to prevent a predictable fiscal crisis as the federal budget year draws to a close on September 30th. In the letter, Senator King and his colleagues emphasized that, with less than two months left in the fiscal year, bipartisan budget negotiations must begin immediately to ensure a budget agreement is reached that rolls back sequester-level cuts in Fiscal Year 2016 appropriations bills and the government is kept open.

“With the end of the fiscal year looming, we urge you to immediately schedule bipartisan budget negotiations so that we can work together over the coming weeks to avoid another manufactured crisis,” Senator King and his colleagues wrote. “Inaction and failure to responsibly restore sequester-level cuts in FY16 appropriations bills will have real consequences for our country. That is why we are eager to start working as soon as possible to negotiate a compromise that will keep our nation and economy strong, and keep the government open.”

Throughout the budget process, Senator King has been a strong advocate of adopting a more sensible approach that helps relieve sequestration by striking an appropriate balance between spending reductions and revenue increases. During the Senate’s consideration of this year’s budget, Senator King and Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) offered an amendment that would ease the harm sequestration does to national security and other areas like infrastructure and education, which are vital to future economic growth. The amendment, which passed by a bipartisan vote of 50-48 but was not included in the final conference report passed by both the Senate and House of Representatives, calls for replacing sequester cuts in defense and non-defense accounts with a balanced package of changes in mandatory programs, targeted discretionary cuts, and cuts in tax expenditures.

The full text of the letter is below:

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The Honorable Mitch McConnell                              

Majority Leader                                                         

U.S. Senate                                                                

S-230 The Capitol                                                      

Washington, DC 20150                                             

Dear Leader McConnell:

There are less than two months left in the fiscal year, and we are deeply concerned by the fact that negotiations to craft a bipartisan budget agreement have not yet begun. With the end of the fiscal year looming, we urge you to immediately schedule bipartisan budget negotiations so that we can work together over the coming weeks to avoid another manufactured crisis.

Inaction and failure to responsibly restore sequester-level cuts in FY16 appropriations bills will have real consequences for our country. That is why we are eager to start working as soon as possible to negotiate a compromise that will keep our nation and economy strong, and keep the government open.

With the existence of a clear and urgent deadline for action, we believe it would be unwise to wait until after the Congress returns from the August state work period – just 23 days before the end of the federal fiscal year – to begin talks on a path forward. We cannot afford to wait, only to let delay and inaction bring us to the brink of another totally predictable and completely preventable crisis.

We are ready and willing to work with you to produce a fair and balanced Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015.  Therefore, we respectfully request you schedule the first round of these important negotiations as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Harry Reid

Richard J. Durbin

Charles E. Schumer

Patty Murray

Barbara Mikulski

Patrick J. Leahy

Dianne Feinstein

Barbara Boxer

Ron Wyden

Jack Reed

Bill Nelson

Tom Carper

Debbie Stabenow

Maria Cantwell

Robert Menendez

Ben Cardin

Bernie Sanders

Sherrod Brown

Robert P. Casey, Jr.

Claire McCaskill

Amy Klobuchar

Sheldon Whitehouse

Mark R. Warner

Jon Tester

Tom Udall

Jeanne Shaheen

Jeff Merkley

Michael Bennet

Kirsten Gillibrand

Al Franken

Joe Manchin

Christopher Coons

Richard Blumenthal

Brian Schatz

Tammy Baldwin

Joe Donnelly

Chris Murphy

Mazie K. Hirono

Martin Heinrich

Tim Kaine

Angus King

Elizabeth Warren

Heidi Heitkamp

Edward J. Markey

Cory Booker

Gary Peters

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