Rep. Johnson Slams GOP for Trump Shutdown

For 1st Time in Modern History, Party In Control of House, Senate & White House Shuts Down Government

DECATUR, GA – For the fifth time in 30 years, Republicans have shut down the federal government.  As the nation braces for the Trump Shutdown, Rep. Johnson (GA-04) called out Republicans for failing to allow a bipartisan solution to keep government open and meet the needs of the American people.

“My community is suffering because Republicans were so obsessed with handing tax breaks to corporations and the wealthiest that they forgot their responsibility to the American people,” said Rep. Johnson. “Republicans control the House, the Senate and the White House, but they couldn’t get it together to do something as basic as keeping government open.  Now, Republicans’ incompetence has endangered our economy, hurt our communities, and dangerously deprived the military of the certainty they need to keep our nation safe.”

In 2013, President Trump called Fox & Friends to lay blame for the GOP government shutdown at the feet of President Obama, saying: “the problems start from the top and have to get solved from the top… The president is the leader, and he’s got to get everybody in a room and he’s got to lead.”  In the White House, however, President Trump explicitly called for a shutdown, tweeting in May of 2017, “our country needs a good shutdown.”

A government shutdown has stark consequences for the American people.  A report issued after the 2013 Republican government shutdown detailed many of the impacts of shutdown, including:

•          Stopping the progress on reducing the massive backlog of veterans’ disability claims;

•          Furloughing 2/3rds of the Centers for Disease Control and 3/4ths of the National Institutes of Health;

•          Severely limiting flu season surveillance and monitoring;

•          Delaying life-saving FDA food safety inspections;

•          Disrupting 1.2 million private-sector loans to individuals and small businesses;

•          Delaying billions in tax refunds;

•          Shuttering Head Start centers serving 6,300 children;

•          Destroying 120,000 private-sector jobs and furloughed government workers for a combined 6.6 million days.

“Congress still faces a huge list of urgent, overdue and overwhelmingly bipartisan business,” said Rep. Johnson.  “There’s no need for a Trump Shutdown, we just need the Republicans who control the House and the Senate to show some leadership and work to find common ground to meet the needs of the American people.  Democrats will continue to do our jobs and push for real action for veterans, children, Dreamers, workers, seniors, communities ravaged by opioids, and families worried about how the Trump Shutdown impacts them.”

“My office will continue to do whatever we can to help local families and businesses navigate the Trump Shutdown,” Rep. Johnson added.

For a guide on how the shutdown may affect you, please visit Rep. Johnson’s website: HERE.

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