Senator Gillibrand appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Show last Wednesday, less
than two days after the government shutdown, to discuss what is going on in
Washington and give her views on the shutdown. On the show, Senator Gillibrand was asked if
she would support keeping some parts of the government opened because the House
Republicans are trying to vote to keep certain aspects of the government
opened, such as the National Cancer Institute.
She responded that “this is a gimmick; this is much more like I deal
with my son Henry in the morning saying ‘I want Candy for Breakfast.” It’s a
tea party tantrum and its either I get my way or we shutdown government.” She also states they need to be told “no.” The
only way to reach a compromise, according to Senator Gillibrand, is to have House
Speaker John Boehner put the Senate Bill on the floor. The Bill is a clean resolution that does not
have anything about defunding or delaying Obamacare. She feels this would get support from both
Democrats and Republicans, and it is the only way to open the government. Senator Gillibrand said “this is a debate
between common sense Republicans who want to do their job and those who just
want to say no. It’s their way or the highway and this is not how government
works or our Constitution was made.” When
asked if bills keeping some aspects of government opened during the resolution would
have her vote Senator Gillibrand said “I would vote absolutely no you can’t
pick and choose the parts of government you like, government should function on
behalf of the people.” Senator
Gillibrand also believes Washington is more broken than ever and there is not
enough work bringing both parties together to get things done. Senator Gillibrand stated that with respect to
any bills she was successful in passing she had to initially get Democrats and
Republicans alike to support her bill. This is how she was able to get Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and her signature 9/11 Healthcare Bill passed in Congress.
She believes that not enough bipartisanship is going on in Congress today and
instead many members of the House are acting like children and bullying each
other. It is their inability to compromise that is ruining the way our government
functions today. This is the link to Senator Gillibrands appearance on The Morning Joe Show. (http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3036789/ns/msnbc-morning_joe/vp/53164511#53164511)
Another
big issue American’s are wondering about is if members of the Senate and the House
will still get their salaries even though 800,000 federal employees are out of
work due to this shutdown according to the Syracuse local paper. Senator
Gillibrand currently has made no requests about her $174,000 congressional salary
yet. She said in a statement that those
“who are trying to make an issue out of Congressional paychecks a problem are
distracting the attention from the real problem.” Senator Gillibrand’s office
went further to state that “Tea party Republicans want to make this about
paychecks, but it should be about the paychecks of nearly 800,000 government
workers who were furloughed due to this reckless tantrum.” However, Senator Gillibrand did say she thinks
it not right that members of Congress are getting their salaries and capitol
police and other capitol workers are not.
Kirsten Gillibrand also said
again that if John Boehner put the Senate’s clean resolution on the floor it
will pass by a majority of Democrats and Republicans, and this would end the
shutdown and everyone will get their salaries.
According
to Senator Gillibrand and many Democrats there seems to be one solution to end the
shutdown and it is up to the House Republicans to do it if they want to end the
shutdown. According to polls by Fox News and CBS News,
42 percent of Americans blame House Republicans for the shutdown and 32 percent
blame President Obama and the Democrats in Congress. Thus, it seems Senator Gillibrand’s opinion
matches the majority of Americans. Only time will tell if this will hurt
Senator Gillibrand and other Democrats in Congress or the Republicans.
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