Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance almost 40 years ago has been the stuff of urban legend, prompting numerous theories about what happened to the former Teamsters leader.Eight Hoosier congressmen – including Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-3rd – voted Wednesday in favor of suspending the $16.4 trillion national borrowing limit through May 18.
All seven Indiana Republicans supported delaying action on raising the debt limit, as did Rep. Peter Visclosky, D-1st.
Rep. André Carson, D-7th, opposed the measure.
The bill would require both the Republican House and the Democratic Senate to pass budget resolutions for fiscal year 2014 before April 16 or have their pay held in escrow until they do.
Stutzman said in a floor speech after the vote that it has been four years since Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has called for a vote on a budget in that chamber. The Senate voted twice on budget legislation in April 2009.
“You could build the Pentagon three times in that timeframe,” Stutzman said. “It’s time to pass a budget out of the United States Senate, and Sen. Reid should not be paid until it’s done.”
The 6.5 million-square-foot Pentagon took 16 months to build in the early 1940s, according to its website.
“The House has acted responsibly. We’ve met our deadlines. We’ve set our priorities,” Stutzman said about House-produced budgets rejected by the Senate in recent years.
Freshman Rep. Susan Brooks, R-5th, a Fort Wayne native, said in a statement, “House Republicans offered our colleagues across the aisle a simple but powerful proposition today: Do your job, or lose your pay.”
