Local Responses
“I cannot fathom how Senate Democrats, knowing the severity of the issues in question, acted with such insensitivity using our children and our military as pawns, putting party over country. Due to their decision, our service members and country will suffer tremendously. Furthermore, about 9 million children risk being kicked off health insurance impacting over 70,000 children in Tennessee alone. I stand ready to work tirelessly to reopen our government and put our country back on the path forward.” – Congressman Chuck Fleischmann (TN-03) “Shutting down the government of the United States of America should never ever be a bargaining chip for any issue. Period. It should be to governing as chemical warfare is to real warfare. It should be banned. More than 50 senators last night, including almost all Republicans and 5 Democrats, voted to keep the government open. The president has said he would sign the continuing resolution to keep the government open. The Democrats are closing down the government because they want a result on an important issue, and they want it now. The American people sent us here to make the government work for them, not to shut it down. That should be unthinkable. That should be like chemical warfare. We should never even consider that. So I urge my friends on the other side, let Senator McConnell and Senator Schumer-who are veteran senators, they respect this institution, they’re friends with all of us, they’re able to make a decision-let them sit down themselves and find an agreement to get this government back open. Let’s go to work on the two-year budget agreement, the children’s health insurance program, on lowering the cost of health insurance for people buying insurance in the individual market, on the DACA bill and on disaster relief. Let’s get that done in a very short period of time.” – Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) “I supported the short-term government funding bill that passed the House on Thursday, which delays harmful Obamacare taxes and also extends the Children’s Health Insurance Program for six years. The House did its job. The sole reason the government shut down is because Senate Democrats refused to join Senate Republicans to pass the House’s funding bill. It takes 60 votes to pass government funding legislation in the Senate, and there are only 51 Republicans. Democrats are holding the entire government hostage for a completely unrelated issue that doesn’t have an immediate deadline – DACA. There have been high-level negotiations over illegal immigration and border security for months. There’s just not an agreement yet. The bottom line: few people understand why Democrats want to disrupt life for Americans, put national security at risk and put sick children at risk over illegal immigration. There’s no pressing deadline and no reason for them to abandon talks.” – Rep. Tom Graves (R-GA-14) “It is beyond disheartening to see Congressional Republicans and the Trump administration make the choice to shut down the federal government instead of working in a bipartisan manner to support those who are among the most vulnerable in our country-immigrants and low-income children. It is an irresponsible and immoral choice to provide no protections to DREAMers-immigrants who were brought to this nation as children, many of whom only have known America as their home. Long-term funding for CHIP should have been guaranteed long ago, not left to political gamesmanship. Congress must show leadership and immediately advance commonsense solutions that already have widespread support.” – John B. King Jr., president and CEO of The Education Trust
WASHINGTON (AP) – The federal government shut down at the stroke of midnight Friday, halting all but the most essential operations and marring the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump’s inauguration in a striking display of Washington dysfunction.
Last-minute negotiations crumbled as Senate Democrats blocked a four-week stopgap extension in a late-night vote, causing the fourth government shutdown in a quarter century. Behind the scenes, however, leading Republicans and Democrats were already moving toward a next step, trying to work out a compromise to avert a lengthy shutdown.
Since the shutdown began at the start of a weekend, many of the immediate effects will be muted for most Americans. But any damage could build quickly if the closure is prolonged. And it comes with no shortage of embarrassment for the president and political risk for both parties, as they wager that voters will punish the other at the ballot box in November.
Social Security and most other safety net programs are unaffected by the lapse in federal spending authority. Critical government functions will continue, with uniformed service members, health inspectors and law enforcement officers set to work without pay. But if no deal is brokered before Monday, hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be furloughed.