Activists and elected officials have roundly condemned President Trump and the Republican party for the current government shutdown that began on Saturday morning.
“Congressional Republicans have failed the American people. It is shocking but not surprising that President Trump and his party have managed to shut down the federal government while controlling every single lever of power,” said Rep. Barbara Lee. “Make no mistake, Republican dysfunction, incompetence and cruelty caused this shutdown and upended the lives of millions of Americans. Instead of turning out the lights, Republicans should be working with us to pass bipartisan measures to protect DACA recipients, ensure funding for CHIP and community health centers, and enact a spending bill that uplifts families.”
“This act is certainly a reflection of the stark leadership we have and the times of division we currently live in, as basic needs fall on deaf ears,” said New York State Assemblywoman Diana C. Richardson. “The Democratic and Republican parties were unable to find a resolution as the Republicans pushed for a measure to Include the extension of the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program for six years to cajole Democrats with their insurance program. Subsequently, the Democrats pushed to include an immigration measure through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. As an individual who comes from an immigrant family and a government official who represents a constituency which encompasses a wide variety of those who have travelled to this country to obtain some level of the American Dream, I recognize the importance of this immigration measure. Additionally, the shutdown will result in government workers being put on leave contractor payments will halt until the government reaches a decision. Federal employees will be put in nonessential and essential groups. Those deemed non essential will not be paid and will be off until there is a resolution. Those deemed essential will have to still work and remain unpaid. This does mean that national parks, museums and monuments in addition to the processing of passports and visas will stop if the shutdown continues beyond a few days.”
“At midnight last night, Donald Trump and his GOP sycophants allowed the federal government to shut down despite controlling both houses of Congress and the White House – something never before seen in American history. As with everything that the Trump GOP does, the shutdown came as a result of both their malevolence and their incompetence,” said New York City Council Member Jumaane D. Williams. “Their immoral ideology prevented them from protecting the Dreamers, or from returning health insurance to children all over our country, but instead attempting to use both as leverage to build Trump’s monument of racism along our southern border and abandon the American principle of welcome and refuge to the world’s poor and repressed. The Trump GOP’s xenophobia and bigotry yields an incompetence that has prevented them from performing something so simple as keeping the lights on.”
He added: “It is clear that under Trump, Republicans have succumbed to his moral and functional ineptitude. Government should be an entity to serve and protect the public, and the Trump GOP is clearly willing and eager to abdicate that responsibility. Regardless of what Washington may inflict, New York must and shall stand in defense of the immigrants who make our city and state what it is, and to always stand against attempts to drag our country back to a time we worked too long and too hard to escape.”
Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice, the national organization that advocates for the rights of immigrants said: “Tonight a bipartisan rebellion in the Senate rebuffed a determined Republican strategy to strong arm Democrats, govern by short-term Continuing Resolution, and delay and derail the Dream Act.The vote tonight in the Senate to defeat the House-passed Continuing Resolution was a stinging rebuke of the dysfunctional governance practiced by President Trump and Republican congressional leaders. This is the first time in American history that a shutdown has occurred with one party in control of the White House and both chambers of Congress. This rejection of business-as-usual reflects the fact that the vast majority of Americans are frustrated with a President and a Congress that seem to view a minority of Americans as the privileged and a majority of Americans as the enemy.”
Sharry added: “This pinched and polarizing view – that some matter and most don’t – does not reflect our values and ideals. As a nation, we are better than leaders who divide, dismiss, and disgrace. At our core, what unites us are shared ideas and ideals. We are defined not by our birthplace and background, but by our character and contribution. We believe in the America of E Pluribus Unum – Out of Many, One –not in an America of Us vs. Them. Tonight a brave bipartisan assemblage of senators stood up for an America as good as it ideals. To Democrats who stood strong, we thank you for your courage and your commitment. To Senators Graham and Flake, thank you for putting country over party. And to those in the pro-immigrant and progressive movement, led by the Dreamers, who have fought so tirelessly, we love you, we salute you, and we stand with you. Know that this is a turning point. For our fight has never been about a government shutdown; it’s about a policy breakthrough. It’s not about political advantage; it’s about people’s lives. It’s not about the good old days that ever were; it’s about forging an America that we might yet be – an America that fulfills its promise of freedom, justice and equality, for all. Victory is close. We won’t stop until we achieve it.”
