Congressman Casar Warns Against Government Shutdown

After the recent debacle in which a group of Republicans refused to vote on a bipartisan spending bill, Congressman Greg Casar (D) warned against allowing a government shutdown to happen.

In a series of tweets, Rep. Casar discussed specific consequences that could occur as a result of a government shutdown.

“Nine days until a Republican shutdown could lead to 10,000 children across the country losing their preschool. @HHSGov can’t award Head Start Grants during a shutdown. And that’s just one of the terrible effects of this Republican stunt.”

“We're just 9 days 'til the impending Republican shutdown — but because Republicans want to play petty politics, we're heading back to the district. Progressives are ready to stick to the bipartisan deal & continue delivering for the constituents who sent us to D.C.”

In the attached video that was filmed in an airport, Rep. Casar stated that the Republicans’ refusal to vote on the bill was malicious.

“Republicans are refusing to keep the government and essential services funded. And they are deliberately trying to shut us down. It’s going to harm the economy. They don’t care about throwing working people under the bus. They just want to play their petty politics.”

Rep. Casar encouraged voters to inform their families about the actions taking place in the House regarding the vote on the contested bill and the government shutdown.

“We can’t continue hearing from people like Marjorie Taylor Greene that she, quote-unquote, doesn’t want to shut government services down when that’s exactly what they’re doing.”

The Texas lawmaker continued, categorizing a faction of Republican House members who refer to themselves by the name “Freedom Caucus” as being “right-wing extremists”.

“I just saw on the House floor how Republican, right-wing extremists shut down the House floor, didn’t bring up a vote, even though all Democrats are united, saying let’s keep the government open. We’re ready for a vote just to keep things going while we continue to deliberate a budget. But Republicans want to play petty politics. It’s the thing that people hate the most about Washington, D.C., just because they want to score political points against President Biden while doing damage to our economy.”

The ramifications of a government shutdown typically aren’t good, and Rep. Casar emphasized the importance.

“It’s going to hurt our troops. It’s going to hurt our safety. It’s going to hurt our national security. It’s going to leave thousands of people furloughed without pay. And it’s just wrong. We’re going to keep fighting every step of the way to prevent a government shutdown in the next nine days.”

The congressman concluded his statement by warning against believing the rhetoric espoused by some of the Republican lawmakers.

“And we don’t want to reward them for this kind of behavior. And we just have to be prepared not to be gaslit and tell folks the truth about what’s going on.”