The Metropolitan Washington  Council of Governments (COG) Board of  Directors approved a letter to be sent to the full delegation of congressional representatives and senators in the COG Region, calling for Congress to immediately pass a clean continuing resolution to reopen the federal government.

Due to the inability of Congress to pass a budget, hundreds of thousands of workers in the Metropolitan Washington region are out of work, essential government services remain unavailable and the District of Columbia is unable to access its locally collected tax revenue. Officials at COG said the federal shutdown stands to prevent the momentum of our growing regional economy. The full letter calling for Congress to reopen the federal government is provided below and a link is provided here: http://ow.ly/pGQZ9

Dear Member of Congress:

The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) calls on Congress to immediately pass a clean continuing resolution to reopen the government and put all federal employees back to work. As each day passes, the shutdown of the Federal Government is having an increasingly devastating impact on the economy of metropolitan Washington, its residents and businesses.

Over the last several years our cities and counties have had to make tough choices to balance and approve local budgets. As a result, since the Great Recession, businesses are growing, unemployment has declined, and the region’s local governments are meeting the daily needs of their residents. The shutdown, however, threatens to destabilize this progress. Sustainable economic growth and the overall quality of life require certainty and predictability at all levels of government.

We strongly encourage you to adopt a bipartisan, clean continuing resolution to reopen the government, open federal agencies and put all employees back to work. We will be contacting you in the near future for a meeting to discuss the impacts of the shutdown in our region.

Sincerely,

Karen Young,

Board Chair,

Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG)

City of Frederick, MD