American Democratic leaders on Wednesday blamed President Donald Trump and Republicans for the United States federal government shutdown.
‘From the moment Donald Trump took office, he and his administration have been on a relentless crusade to make this nation less affordable, less equitable, and less like the America we love with all our hearts,’ Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC). ‘This ongoing government shutdown is simply the culmination of those efforts so far.
‘The American people are not fools,’ added the representative for the 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn, New York. ‘They see that Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House, and they know the responsibility to fund the government is on the majority’s shoulders. If Republicans cannot keep the government open without Democratic votes, they should have a meaningful dialogue with our leaders rather than insult them with crude, racist caricatures for applause on social media.
‘The Democrats started this fight united against Republicans’ cruelty, and we will remain united until that cruelty is defeated,’ continued Clarke, who also chairs the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). ‘We will not accept any outcome that allows countless Americans to lose their healthcare, and we will not accept any outcome where working people pay more so billionaires can pay less.
‘We are facing a healthcare crisis manufactured by the Republican Party – marked by the largest proposed cuts to Medicaid and Medicare in our nation’s history,’ she said. ‘Once again, it is Black communities who stand to suffer the most.’
Clarke said the CBC will not support any spending bill that strips healthcare from millions, slashes federal jobs, and drives up the cost of living for working families.
‘And to our Republican colleagues, let me be clear: Enough is enough,’ she said. ‘Work with us on a bipartisan solution that protects the people – not one that causes maximum harm to the very communities that have long sustained this country.
‘Today, our country is facing a crisis entirely of the Republican Party’s making and, unfortunately, Black communities will be forced to bear the brunt of their political games,’ the congresswoman added. ‘Make no mistake: President Trump and the Republican majority in Congress own this shutdown. Instead of coming to the negotiating table to find a bipartisan solution to prevent Americans from losing life-saving healthcare, they left town.
‘Instead of negotiating in good faith with Democratic leadership, President Trump cowardly posted racist deepfakes on the Internet. This behavior shows the American people exactly who the Republicans are and where their priorities lie,’ she continued. ‘The GOP spending proposal includes the most aggressive attack on healthcare in modern history, slashing Medicaid and Medicare at unprecedented levels. These cuts are not abstract – they are life-or-death decisions for millions of Americans, especially the 1 in 5 Medicaid enrollees who are Black.’
Across America, Clarke said hospitals, nursing homes, and clinics that serve Black and minority communities are already closing their doors.
‘The Republicans’ refusal to extend ACA premium tax credits is driving up costs and pushing coverage out of reach for many in our communities,’ she said. ‘And if that weren’t bad enough, they are gutting medical research on diseases that disproportionately impact Black Americans, like heart disease and diabetes.
‘The Congressional Black Caucus made clear that we will not support a partisan, extremist spending bill that slashes healthcare, guts federal jobs, and raises costs for hardworking Americans,’ she added. ‘We are calling on our Republican colleagues to return to Washington and negotiate in good faith on a bipartisan path forward to protect healthcare and reopen the government.’
Congressman Adriano Espaillat, the first Dominican Republic-American to serve in the US House of Representatives, representing New York’s 13th Congressional District, condemned Trump’s efforts to freeze funding for New York City transit and infrastructure, including vital support for the Gateway Project and Second Avenue Subway expansion to East Harlem and New York’s 13th congressional district amid the federal government shutdown.
‘The White House’s decision to threaten the Gateway Project and Second Avenue Subway, our nation’s most critical infrastructure projects, is another exhibit of the reckless partisanship and bad governance that triggered this Republican government shutdown,’ said Espaillat, whose district comprises Harlem, East Harlem, West Harlem, Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, Inwood, Marble Hill and the north-west Bronx.
‘Shame on Russell Vought (the White House budget director) and the Trump administration for harming our national security and punishing New Yorkers with this DC political gamesmanship and negatively impacting the tens of thousands of East Harlem residents who have suffered without transportation access for decades,’ Espaillat added.
New York State Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, noted that, for the first time in six years, the federal government has entered a shutdown, ‘due to disagreement in President Trump proposal to cut back on severe funding.
‘While these decisions are made in Washington, they have real consequences for families and communities here in New York,’ said Bichotte Hermelyn, chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, who represents the 42nd Assembly District in Brooklyn.
She said the impact of the shutdown may include federal employees and contractors working without pay until funding is restored; SNAP and WIC benefits could be disrupted, placing added strain on families who depend on these programs for food assistance; housing and rental assistance programmes funded through HUD may see delays in processing, impacting families who rely on this support.
She said small businesses applying for federal loans or grants may face delays, limiting access to capital; travel and safety services such as TSA screenings and air traffic control will continue but may be strained due to staffing shortages; community organizations that depend on federal funding will face uncertainty in sustaining their programs; and Veterans Affairs will cease providing transition programme assistance and career counseling.
Bichotte Hermelyn said the shutdown may also defund police, affect healthcare by delaying Medicare claims, and cause closure of national parks and public facing federal offices.
‘President Trump and Washington Republicans are once again putting politics over people with this reckless shutdown,’ she told CMC. ‘Here in Brooklyn, where so many families are already struggling, and now millions shall stand to lose food assistance, health care, and housing support.
‘These cuts would be devastating to women, children, immigrants, New Yorkers who rely on SNAP and working families,’ she added.
US House of Representatives Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who represents New York’s 8th Congressional District, encompassing parts of Brooklyn and Queens, told a press conference in Washington on Wednesday that, at midnight on Tuesday, ‘Donald Trump and Republicans shut the federal government down because they don’t want to provide healthcare to working-class Americans.’
He said he and US Senate Democratic Leader Charles ‘Chuck’ Schumer met with President Trump and legislative leaders on Monday.
‘We had a conversation that was designed to avoid a painful government shutdown and address the Republican healthcare crisis,’ Jeffries said. ‘Subsequent to that meeting, we heard nothing from any of the legislative leaders on the Republican side, and the President has been engaging in irresponsible and unserious behavior, demonstrating that, all along, Republicans wanted to shut the government down.
‘That’s no surprise, because, for decades, Republicans have consistently shut the government down as part of their efforts to try to extract and jam their extreme right-wing agenda down the throats of the American people,’ he added.
‘Democrats have repeatedly made clear we are ready to sit down with anyone, at any time and at any place in order now to reopen the government, to enact a spending agreement that meets the needs of the American people and to address the devastating Republican healthcare crisis that has caused extraordinary harm on people all across the country, in rural America, working-class America, urban America, small town America, the heartland of America and Black and brown communities throughout America,’ he continued.
‘The Republican healthcare crisis is devastating, the likes of which no one has ever seen – largest cut to Medicaid in American history, a possible US$536 billion cut to Medicare because of the One Big Ugly Bill if Congress doesn’t act by the end of the year,’ Jeffries said.
He warned that ‘tens of millions of Americans are about to experience dramatically increased premiums, co-pays and deductibles because of the Republican unwillingness to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits.
‘Hospitals, nursing homes and community-based health clinics are closing all across the country, including in rural America, because of what Republicans have done and the healthcare crisis they have triggered through their cruel actions throughout this year,’ he added. ‘Republicans have even canceled medical research in the United States of America, even as it relates to children who are battling cancer.
‘The Republican healthcare crisis is immoral in nature, and Democrats are fighting hard to reverse it,’ Jeffries continued. ‘Cancel the cuts, lower the cost, save healthcare on behalf of the American people.’