Castro Campaign Press Release - Trump's Government Shutdown

Day 35. There is no excuse for this shutdown of our government to have lasted this long. And the blame lies with President Trump.

In fact, his administration is so oblivious to the damage it is doing to the 800,000 federal workers who are furloughed, that his Commerce Secretary went on national television yesterday to talk about how they should just take out loans until the shutdown is over.

Secretary Wilbur Ross, who Forbes reckons is worth $700 million, told CNBC that there was "no good reason" why folks were going to food banks or diaper banks to make ends meet while missing two or more paychecks. Talk about out of touch.

As HUD Secretary, Julián Castro led an agency of nearly 8,000 federal workers. Today, 95% of those folks are furloughed. It's affecting mortgages, credit worthiness, birthdays and vacations, and careers. Julián knows that a lot of the people who work for the government will look for other, more stable jobs and we'll lose a generation of institutional knowledge about how best to serve the American people. That's disturbing.

And why, what is this all for? It's about a campaign promise the President made to his base. It's about separating our country from the rest of the world and cowering in fear. This is not how most Americans want us to behave — neither building a wall nor shutting down the government. Let us be clear: Any bill to fund the government must not include any funding for a wall at our southern border. Democrats in Congress should not buckle to the tyrant's demands.

We've been traveling a lot lately, and when we go through airport security we always make sure to thank the TSA agents for serving without pay and express our hope that the shutdown ends soon. Every single time, the agent looks at us with gratitude and says "Thank you, me too." It's a look that says they're feeling left behind, even as they serve their country.

The Coast Guard and FBI have expressed concern about their ability to effectively combat crime and protect America due to the shutdown. Today, flights around the country are disrupted because not enough air traffic controllers showed up to work. More ripple effects, now to our national security.

The government shutdown directly affects people. Public servants. They support families and, in many communities, they support small businesses, too. They definitely support America. They are being asked to bear the brunt of this President's temper tantrum about building a wasteful wall.

There are ripple effects to this shutdown, ones that this administration doesn't bother themselves with. Effects that won't be erased by taking out a loan to cover bills for an indefinite period of time.