The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) has joined with others in the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA) to call on Congress in general and Republicans in particular, to reopen the government via a "clean" continuing resolution bill.
At a press conference Oct. 10 in Washington, NHLA members warned that the shutdown and debt ceiling fight will hurt the economy and exacerbate the harm that sequestration and budget cuts have already done to Hispanics.
"Speaker Boehner and other congressional leaders need to simply allow a vote to reopen the government with no strings attached," said Hector Sanchez, chair of NHLA. "The votes are there in Congress to end this shutdown."
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has refused to schedule a vote on a clean funding bill to end the shutdown until the White House agrees to negotiate on long-term budget and debt and other financial issues, including The Affordable Healthcare Act.
The groups suggested there could be political fallout with Hispanics, a constituency Republicans have been courting as their U.S. numbers swell.
"To continue aggressively pursuing an agenda that is at direct odds with the interests of the Latino community has political and economic ramifications. Lawmakers must change course soon to avert an economic crisis, stop the cuts and restore investments in children and working families," HNLA said.
