SEIU’s Henry: Budget deal an important step forward but final budget can’t include riders

WASHINGTON—In response to the latest reports about a prospective two-year federal budget agreement, SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry issued the following statement:

“This deal makes significant progress in eliminating some of the extraordinary hardship and uncertainty associated with the sequester — as well as helps to head off a catastrophic government shutdown, but not without some pain. As always, we remain dedicated to protecting our health care system from changes that would hurt affordability and access to care or undermine the health care workforce.

“However, we are extremely concerned about extremists attempts to weigh down the budget with policy riders that would hurt working families and raise the chances of an impasse and a shutdown. This is no time for riders aimed at settling political scores that will do long-term harm to the economy, our democracy and working people’s rights.”