Self-described “fiscally conservative” House Republicans are already threatening to shut down the federal government to secure funding for Trump’s divisive $70 billion, taxpayer-funded border wall. Either outcome — funding the wall or forcing a reckless shutdown — would be a clear waste of billions in taxpayer dollars: the 2013 shutdown, for example, took $24 billion out of the U.S. economy, according to Standard & Poor’s.
“Republicans are yet again playing self-sabotaging political football with an absurd threat that, if carried out, would adversely impact millions of Americans and cost taxpayers billions,” said American Bridge spokesperson Brad Bainum. “It’s time they stopped looking for ways to force through their extreme agenda and give their biggest donors tax cuts, and started thinking about what it’ll take to increase healthcare access and create good-paying American jobs.”
The 2013 shutdown was GOP-led — Trump’s Budget Director Mick Mulvaney was himself a ringleader — and so too would be the 2017 reboot. Republicans control the House, Senate, and White House, so any shutdown that happens on their watch is solely their responsibility: it isn’t the Democrats’ fault that the Republican Party is incapable of governing.
Here’s what Republicans want to put on the line to waste billions in taxpayer money on an ineffective border wall that won’t get built and Mexico certainly won’t pay for:
- The U.S. economy will yet again lose tens of billions of dollars;
- Nutritional assistance programs that help feed new moms, newborns, and kids will once more be imperiled;
- Millions of veterans’ benefits would again be put at risk;
- Low-income early childhood education programs like Head Start will again be shuttered;
- Federal small business loans, federal housing assistance, and VA mortgage applications would once more be delayed;
- Hundreds of thousands of federal employees would, as before, face unexpected furloughs;
- Tens of thousands of private-sector jobs that would otherwise be created won’t be; and,
- National parks and the Smithsonian Museums and the National Zoo would again be shut down.
Published: Jul 11, 2017