WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) released the following statement after Senate Democrats voted to shut down the government and let the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) expire:
“With the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) set to expire, Louisiana’s governor has been forced to begin winding down the program in our state,” said Dr. Cassidy. “This bill would have funded children’s health insurance for six years, but Democrats voted against it. They voted to shut down the government just to appease the pro-illegal immigration extremists in their party. They voted against continuing the National Flood Insurance Program, they voted against supporting our troops and ongoing military operations, and they voted against keeping the government running. I voted for the bill, which would protect children’s health insurance and give Congress and the White House more time to work out a long-term spending bill and an agreement to secure the border before the DACA deadline on March 5th.”
Last week, the Washington Post reported that “Democrats are facing an uncomfortable question: Are they willing to force a government shutdown to extract political victories[?]”
In November, the Washington Post reported that Senator Dick Durbin, “the second-ranking Senate Democrat and a lead negotiator on spending matters, said he is encouraging his colleagues to join him in blocking spending legislation if the legal status of ‘dreamers’ isn’t resolved.”
In 2013, Democrat leader Chuck Schumer said, “I believe in immigration reform. What if I persuaded my caucus to say, ‘I’m going to shut the government down, I am going to not pay our bills unless I get my way?’ It’s a politics of idiocy, of confrontation, of paralysis.”
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