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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Udall: Don't Shut Down Government

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Thursday, April 7, 2011   

WASHINGTON - Avoid a government shutdown. That's the message from a group of moderate Democratic Senators to U.S. House Speaker John Boehner. The group is led by Colorado's Mark Udall. On Wednesday, they sent a letter to the Congressman warning that a government shutdown would imperil the country's fragile economic recovery.

Udall says this short-term budget crisis is missing the bigger problem: finding a responsible plan to address long-term national debt.

"We're, if you want to be blunt about it, fighting over the bar tab on the Titanic while an iceberg looms 50 miles off the bow."

This week, Speaker Boehner criticized plans put forward by the White House and Senate that cut approximately $33 billion from the budget for this fiscal year - calling them "two options which are bad for America." The House is seeking to cut $40 billion from the budget. If a compromise isn't reached, a shutdown could happen by midnight Friday - directly impacting the 1.5 million people who work for for the government - and, the Senators warn, causing ripple effects through the economy.

Udall worries that this debate will make it even more difficult to come to an agreement on the bigger issues: the budget for next fiscal year and long-term debt management. And he questions the motivations of some who refuse to seek a middle ground in negotiations.

"It feels like there is a minority in the Republican Party pushing for a government shutdown solely to assert a political point. Compromise and collaboration are not dirty words, in fact, I think they're the American way. It's how we've built our country."

Sixteen senators signed the letter to the House Speaker - including Colorado's Michael Bennett.

Various economic impacts of the government shutdown can be found at http://tinyurl.com/3fdxtgm.




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