Third District Congressman Morgan McGarvey was the only member of Kentucky’s congressional delegation to agree to an interview with WEKU News Thursday. The first-term Democrat said passing a budget is Congress’s job.
“You have a White House that wants to do that. You have Senate Democrats who want to do that. You have Senate Republicans who want to do that. You have House Democrats who want to do that. And the reality is it is the House Republicans who are preventing this from happening. And within that, it's the most extreme Republicans in the caucus that are causing the dysfunction.”
One of the Senate Republicans McGarvey referred to is Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who released a statement earlier in the day.
“Back in 2019, our colleagues on the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee found that over the previous five years, government shutdowns had cost the taxpayers nearly $4 billion.”
McConnell blasted the Biden Administration for border problems, but said time and again, government shutdowns have made the work of the border enforcement officers even harder.
McGarvey said so-called MAGA Republicans’ concerns should be addressed during the budget process and that savings from not paying federal employees, like air traffic controllers, are temporary.
“We will end up paying all those people who are still going to work even though the government shut down, so that government shutdown in and of itself doesn't save the government money. So if you want to have those spending conversations, let's do it. The budget is the place to do it. You've got to pass a budget to have those spending conversations.”
When asked about the odds of a shutdown, the Louisville Democrat said he doesn’t have a flight home scheduled this weekend. I’m John McGary.
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