On the recordJanuary 22, 2019
Congressman Garamendi has demonstrated leadership both here in our Nation's capital and when we worked together in Sacramento, and I commend his efforts and thank him for yielding to me. The government shutdown is simply irresponsible. The American public understands that a Congress debates a budget, the President submits his proposal, and we go through our committee hearing process. We make modifications and changes. You win some and you lose some. But by October 1, we are supposed to have a budget sent to the President, and he is supposed to sign it into law. Now, guess what. A budget is among the most important things we do as Members of Congress, and it is the Nation's spending priorities. It is thousands of spending priorities. There are some things we like in the budget, and there are some things that we would change. But our Nation has to have a budget, just like every family has a budget, every business has a budget. In that family budget or the business budget, there are things you would rather not pay--a house payment, a car payment--but we have obligations and commitments to make and have to be responsible. This government shutdown, this manufactured crisis orchestrated by the President in which he proudly proclaimed that he would take ownership of it--they can call it the Trump shutdown, as he said so boldly in December--is the Trump shutdown. It is simply irresponsible.…
