Dem Rep. Olszewski: I Favor ‘Opposing New Appropriations’ over Iran War, But Gov’t Shutdown Would Be Unsafe

On Tuesday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “Cuomo,” Rep. Johnny Olszewski (D-MD) stated that he would back “opposing new appropriations” to end the war in Iran, but he wouldn’t want a total government shutdown because “What I don’t want to do is not pay our TSA agents and make sure that we’re safe in showing our opposition.”

Olszewski said, “I support every effort to end this conflict that’s cost 18 lives, 800 injuries, tens of billions of dollars before we try to replenish our stockpile, $1,400 for the average American family out of their pockets so far. Whether it’s the war powers resolution, which we’ll be voting on again this week, withholding appropriations, I’m for all of those things. What I don’t want to do is not pay our TSA agents and make sure that we’re safe in showing our opposition. So, I think that’s an extreme measure.”

Host Chris Cuomo followed up, “If the Democrats start talking about shutting down the government over the war, can I expect that this Democrat from Maryland will not be a part of that?”

Olszewski answered, “I have deep reservations about that. I think we should do everything we can within the tools in our toolbox, which is the war powers resolution and the appropriations process, which means opposing new appropriations and putting guardrails in those bills. But I have grave concerns about shutting down all of the government over that. So, I think we should tread very carefully in that space.”

Cuomo then said that if Democrats take control of the House, “you can’t stop the war, you won’t have the Senate.”

Olszewski responded, “No, but we will have much more control over the budget process. We can actually make sure that we are using the subpoena process and the oversight process to help the American people understand what’s going wrong with this war and why we need to bring it to an end. Part of the problem with all of the reporting that we’re seeing, as we know now, the president, the vice president, in going around the president trying to get that information, they all know that this is a disaster. Military experts, the people who are the best at running these operations, have said we are at a strategic disadvantage. We’re at a real sort of turning point where we are running out of munitions. We are spending tens of billions of dollars. We have our bases and other infrastructure is really at a critical point. And so, as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, it’s very concerning to me to think about the idea that someone with more capacity, like a China, that we would not be able to respond and protect our citizens in the way that we would want, given the ways in which we have conducted this war in Iran.”