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Regardless of their party affiliation, House Budget Committee members agree they don’t want to see the government shut down. But they don’t agree on who is to blame if it happens.

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., one of three Appropriations Designees on the House Budget Committee, is pointing the finger at his colleagues on the other side of the aisle. “We’re here because the Democrats didn’t get their work done last year. Never passed a budget, never passed any appropriations bill and frankly we are here right now because the Senate hasn’t gotten its job done,” said Cole during a Sunday interview with Fox News.

Cole added, “The House has passed a bill which keeps the government open and reduces spending substantially by $61 billion. We think that’s the way we ought to go.”

Another member of the Budget Committee, Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wisc., says she can’t support the cuts passed by the Republican-controlled House.

Background:  Nearly two-hundred events are taking place across the country this week to celebrate the anniversary of the Affordable Care Act. Seniors, small businesses, faith communities, and young people will all come together to share how they are already benefiting from the law and to highlight what’s at stake as opponents of reform work overtime to take away those benefits and put insurance companies back in charge of health care decisions for America’s families.

Throughout the week, days have been designated to highlight how the health care law helps different communities – today’s celebration is about how the Affordable Care Act Protects Women!

Today, U.S. Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-Milwaukee) wrote to President Barack Obama seeking ways to prevent negative impacts of Governor Scott Walker’s budget proposal.

Her letter touches on some of Governor Walker’s most detrimental proposals including education, health care, food stamps, transit and energy and the environment.

Upset over Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal, U.S. Congresswoman Gwen Moore is asking President Barack Obama for help.

The Milwaukee Democrat sent a letter to Obama Friday seeking ways to prevent “negative impacts” Walker’s budget will have on education, health care, food stamps, transit, and energy and the environment.

“There is simply no rationale for continuing American involvement with no end in sight, rising deaths for civilians and our brave soldiers, declining public sentiment, and serious economic pain at home,” Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich explained to his fellow House members during Thursday’s debate on ending the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan. “Continuing our involvement in Afghanistan is not affordable, it’s not just, and it hurts American foreign policy interests. It’s time to go.”

That message, long true but truer now than ever, resonated with 92 members of the House, who joined Kucinich in voting to bring an end to the war in Afghanistan by the end of 2011.

Earlier this week, Congresswoman Moore was on the House floor honoring African American women for Women’s History Month.  Below are clips from her speech.

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What a difference a year makes. Last year, I was at our state Capitol watching then-Gov. Jim Doyle sign the Healthy Youth Act, a much overdue law ensuring that Wisconsin youth get accurate and age-appropriate information in sex-ed classrooms.

Fast forward to today, when we are facing serious attacks on access to women’s health care at the state and federal level.

At the state level, I join the chorus of Wisconsinites outraged at the overreach of conservative politicians working to advance an extreme agenda in a Trojan horse barreling through a purported state of fiscal emergency.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to eliminate bargaining rights for public employees is “blatantly un-American” and “jeopardizes the viability of the people during these tough economic times,”  say Reps. Emanuel Cleaver  (D-Mo.) and Gwen Moore (D-Wis.).

In a letter to Walker, Cleaver, who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus, and Moore, who represents Milwaukee in Congress, say public servants deserve a seat at the table to help solve the state’s fiscal crisis. The letter says: