Blue Dog Leadership: This Isn’t Governance; It’s an Embarrassment

Today, the co-chairs of the fiscally-responsible, Democratic Blue Dog Coalition—Reps. Jim Costa (D-CA), Henry Cuellar (D-TX), and Daniel Lipinski (D-IL)—released the following statement on the government shutdown:

"One party controls both chambers of Congress and the White House, and has managed to create a situation where no one wins. Our men and women in uniform aren't getting paid for their work, we still don't have a long-term budget, we don't have the necessary funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program and community health centers, and DREAMers continue to live in fear and uncertainty that they will be deported through no fault of their own.

"The reality is that leadership has had months to bring Democrats and Republicans together to pass long-term solutions to all of these problems—yet they continue to pursue partisan games instead. Members of the Blue Dog Coalition have worked tirelessly to produce bipartisan solutions with our Republican colleagues to address all of these important issues—and we are continuing to do so. Republican leadership has the power to bring these bipartisan solutions to the floor and bring both parties together to pass these solutions with overwhelmingly bipartisan votes. Yet, Republican leadership has continued to ignore our calls for commonsense solutions, and they've continued to produce legislation catered to the extreme of their party that can't pass both chambers of Congress.

"This is exactly why Americans are losing faith in Congress. Because nothing is getting done—even when the White House, the Senate, and the House are under the full control of the Republican Party.

"So when will it stop? When will Republican leadership recognize that the Blue Dogs have been ready to roll up our sleeves and work together to do our job—to govern? We hope the answer is now. Because this isn't governance; this is an embarrassment.

"As Blue Dogs, we're ready to get Congress out of this mess and working again. We call on Republican leadership to stop catering to the extreme, whose goal is to obstruct, and start looking to our members, whose goal is to find bipartisan solutions that can get Washington working again and serve the American people."

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