House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) have come out against a Republican stopgap spending bill as Congress edges towards a shutdown.
House Republican leaders on Tuesday released the text for a stopgap funding bill that would set aside tens of millions of dollars for security assistance for lawmakers and federal officials amid heightened concerns about political violence after the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
The stopgap funding bill, otherwise known as a continuing resolution (CR), would seek to avert a government shutdown on October 1 and keep the government open through November 21.
The House aims to pass the spending bill later this week and seeks to pressure Schumer to back talks with Republicans to stop a shutdown.
However, Democrats do not approve of the House GOP plan.
Schumer and Jeffries said in a joint statement:
The House Republican-only spending bill fails to meet the needs of the American people and does nothing to stop the looming healthcare crisis. At a time when families are already being squeezed by higher costs, Republicans refuse to stop Americans from facing double-digit hikes in their health insurance premiums.
By refusing to work with Democrats, Republicans are steering our country straight toward a shutdown. President Trump called the play last week when he told Congressional Republicans to jam a partisan spending bill down the throats of the American people without Democratic support.
Instead of governing, Republicans are once again taking orders from Donald Trump, hurting the American people and recklessly marching our nation to the brink of a shutdown.
The Democrat statement objects to the fact that Republicans have not addressed the expiring Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced tax credits for health insurance.
Republican leaders want to address the issue later in the year rather than in the current bill.
“We have until the end of December to figure all that out,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said.
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