Calif. Dem. Rep.: Stopgap Bill Bad Policy

Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., believes the federal short-term spending bill the House passed Tuesday to avert a government shutdown is a bad idea, and it is “crazy” to pass two-week budgets “for the largest economy in the world.” Becerra Tuesday also told Fox News’ Neal Cavuto he has problems with the process.

“It is crazy to believe that here we are passing two-week budgets for the largest economy in the world,” Becerra said. “That is no way to operate the largest economy or the smallest business in America. I don’t think that this is the way you do things. Two weeks from now, we could be in the same situation – it is ad hoc budgeting at its worst.

“We shouldn’t be here,” he said. “We should have resolved this quite some time ago, but my colleagues on the Republican side spent two months doing political theater, passing a budget which everyone said won’t become law and cuts jobs.”

Becerra said passing two-week budgets is not a responsible way to govern, nor is it a way to run any size business.

“Is it the responsible way to govern and to budget? I don’t think so, because the markets look at what we are doing,” he said. “The markets are probably looking right now and saying: ‘Two weeks – what is going to happen in two weeks?’ The small hardware store in my community is thinking: ‘If I had to operate on a two-week budget, what do I tell my customers?’

“I think it is unfortunate, because it’s more than just Washington, D.C., at stake: It’s a lot of Americans – small businesses that do contracts with the government, a lot of people who depend on the services, seniors who depend on Social Security checks,” Becerra continued. “And, unfortunately, here we are wondering if in two weeks we will be right back where we were before.

“It is not the way to run a government.”