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Congressman Foster Frustrated With Lack Of Action To Reopen Government

(CBS) -- Suburban Congressman Bill Foster (D-Ill.) says the budget impasse on Capitol Hill could be resolved easily at this point, and with a debt crisis coming, it should be.

WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports Foster believes the standoff over the federal government shutdown could be resolved with a simple up-or-down vote on a continuing resolution to fund the government – with no strings attached.

Foster Furious Congressional Gym Open During Shutdown

Foster believes such a vote would pass, and he's incensed the private gym and spa for members of Congress has remained open, while many other parts of the government have shut down.

"I've repeatedly called on Speaker (John) Boehner to just get this crisis over with by calling a simple majority vote on a clean budget resolution, and that will allow us to reopen the government," he said. "At that point, I think it would be appropriate to reopen the congressional gym and spa."

He's introduced a bill that would force the congressional gym to shut down along with other non-essential government functions.

"When the Capitol Police are not being paid, and kids aren't able to go to Head Start, and veterans aren't getting their benefits, we really shouldn't be prioritizing congressional fringe benefits above those."

Foster said cooler heads should prevail before Thursday's deadline to raise the federal debt ceiling.

For now, all eyes are on the Senate, where talks appeared to be progressing to reopen the federal government, and raise the debt ceiling to avoid a potentially disastrous default on federal government debt.

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