Democrats and Republicans Get Same Shutdown Request From Constituents
Americans do not want their representatives to bow to the pressures of a government shutdown.
Politicians on both sides are hearing the same message from their voters, whether they are in vulnerable districts or partisan strongholds, reported MSNBC Monday: “Continue the fight. »
“Almost to a T, I hear people saying they want us to keep fighting for them, they want us to stand up and they don’t want us to give in,” Washington Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal told the station.
This pressure suggests that Americans do not want their parties to reach a resolution to continue funding the government. Instead, they would prefer the shutdown to continue.
“It won’t surprise you, coming from a red state, that most of the calls are encouraging Republicans to hold on and keep fighting,” Indiana Republican Sen. Todd Young told MSNBC.
More than 700,000 federal employees were furloughed following the shutdown, according to a report from the Bipartisan Political Center. Congress has yet to pass a stopgap funding measure or a full-year appropriations bill to end the shutdown. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has laid off thousands of federal employees.
Monday marked the 20th day the government remained shut down, with Republicans and Democrats at odds over how to finance Trump’s “big, beautiful” budget, which included details of cutting billions of dollars in Obamacare and Medicaid subsidies.
Democrats — and their voters — insisted that party officials hold on until they find a way to save subsidized health care programs. But a major problem looms: Open enrollment for Obamacare plans begins November 1. If the shutdown is not resolved by then, millions of Americans will be forced to make a decision about their health coverage without knowing whether premiums will go down.
Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin told MSNBC that “the vast majority of people I hear and see insist that we hold on to solve the health care crisis and the government shutdown at the same time.”
“We don’t have the luxury of choice here,” Raskin said.
Remarkably, the issue has not received much attention in congressional offices across the country. Politicians on both sides of the aisle noted to MSNBC that they were surprised by the minimal volume of calls they received regarding their office closures.
“I know a lot of Americans are worried about the shutdown, but I just don’t know that, until the last few days, there’s been a lot of engagement,” Young told MSNBC last week.
