Less than 48 hours after the U.S. Government shutdown, Washington Representative Jamie Herrera Beutler announced her decision to donate 100 percent of her shutdown salary to Shared Hope International.
During a government shutdown, the 532 members of Congress continue to be paid, at a rate of $174,000 annually. While this costs American taxpayers approximately $10,000 an hour, 800,000 government employees have been furloughed without pay. The shutdown is expected to have major consequences on the already fragile U.S. economy. IHS Global Insight, a market research firm, expects the shutdown could cost $1.6 billion a week in lost economic output. The last federal government shutdown occurred in 1995 and lasted 21 days.
Rep. Herrera Beutler, a long-time ally in the fight against trafficking, is using this opportunity for good. Rep. Herrera Beutler serves as a member of the House of Representatives for Washington’s 3rd District, the same district former Congresswoman and President and Founder of Shared Hope, Linda Smith, served from 1995-99.
“Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas, announced on Twitter that she will give 100 percent of her salary to Shared Hope International, a Vancouver-based nonprofit group that seeks to prevent sex trafficking, until Congress ‘gets the government back up and running,’ said her spokesman, Casey Bowman. – The Columbian
On July 8, 2013, Rep. Herrera Beutler, Co-chair of the Congressional Caucus of Women’s Issues joined with a host of Senators and Representatives to help sponsor the 2013 National Colloquium Report Release and Briefing in Washington, D.C. The report, produced by Shared Hope International, represented the responses from over 100 provider, survivor, government, advocacy and funding experts on emerging trends and barriers encountered in attempting to secure restorative shelter and services for juvenile sex trafficking victims and survivors.
