WASHINGTON — Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, issued the following statement on the victories Democrats secured in legislation to keep the government open:
“House Democrats have engineered a huge victory for the American people in averting a Republican shutdown. This is a moment of relief for the thousands of federal employees and working-class federal contract workers who will not miss a paycheck and the millions of Americans who rely on government services that will continue uninterrupted. The reason that the government will remain open tonight is simple: Democrats held the line against Republicans' cruel, extreme, and unworkable agenda and the Republican resolve crumbled.
House Democrats stared down their funding cuts and we won. The Congressional Progressive Caucus in coalition with the Chairs of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, and the Congressional Black Caucus, made it clear that we would not support any bad border or immigration policy and it was dropped from the bill as a result. We ensured that our communities in Hawai’i, Vermont, and across the country could receive the federal disaster recovery funding they desperately need.
However, there is work still ahead. Congress still needs to pass government funding legislation, and Republicans are still trying to gut food, housing, and home heating assistance for low-income families, take teachers out of classrooms, criminalize abortion, cut Social Security funding and create a death panel for the earned benefits seniors rely on. Republicans have managed to fulfill the absolute bare minimum of their obligations as the governing majority, but Democrats will need to remain vigilant against their extreme, cruel, and unworkable agenda.
“There are now 45 more days to avoid a national crisis. Speaker McCarthy should stick to the deal he made with President Biden and work with Democrats in the House and Senate to actually pass funding bills, prevent a Republican shutdown, and continue to provide the essential services people need. Their incompetence and extremism has cost our constituents enough already — but the American people can rest assured that just as we held the line for them in this fight, we will continue to do so in the fights to come.
