As the government shutdown begins its second week and federal employees and members of the armed forces await final word about paychecks and benefits, New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) found the time to call a thing a thing.
In the aftermath of the Super Saiyan Tangerine’s decision to begin a partial government shutdown after Democrats in a lame-duck session rightfully balked at his demands for border wall funding, armed services members have taken to social media to shed light on the financial turmoil Trump’s whims have unleashed on the very troops he promised a raise.
Provided the checks come early in 2019, they won’t be growing, even as the cost of living surely rises. With a freeze on pay raises for federal employees, budgets will tighten as work picks back up nationwide. After initially announcing the freeze in August, citing the government’s inability to foot the bill for non-performance based raises, President Trump promised to look into the matter. He looked into it and came away with the same decision.
Yesterday, during an appearance on ABC News’ This Week, New York’s 8th congressional district representative laid the issue plain.
Citing a plan that would “waste $5 billion in taxpayer money on an ineffective, medieval border wall that is a 5th-century solution to a 21st-century problem,” Jeffries decried Trump’s decision to “hold the American people hostage.”
“Our responsibility is to manage public money,” Jeffries said. “[W]e are not willing to pay $2.5 billion or $5 billion in wasting taxpayer dollars on a ransom note.”
Nancy Pelosi’s plans to restart government operations are reportedly bereft of dollars for Trump’s wall, according to Politico. The end has yet to come, but Democrats, for once, appear to be saying and doing the right thing.