There will be a government shutdown if President Biden “stays on the sidelines,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) told reporters this week.
“If President Biden stays on the sidelines while our border is destroyed day after day, the government will shut down,” McCarthy said in a message posted to X.
“Just like we’ve had strikes in California and Michigan, and embassies evacuated around the world, his lack of leadership has catastrophic consequences,” he continued, sharing a clip of his response to reporters.
“The Senate has not done their job. The Senate has not taken up the House work,” he emphasized, calling on Biden to “step in and do something about it.”
“Otherwise, government will shut down,” he said, pointing to the tremendous lack of leadership from Democrats.
“Just like we’re having strikes in Michigan, just like we had a five-month strike in California, just like we have embassies that are having to be evacuated around the world, that’s a lack of leadership. So show some leadership,” he said.
“This is your policies. This wasn’t a policy that was passed through the House and Senate that opened up this border. It was simply your decision,” McCarthy said of Biden, noting that he could “do something to change it.”
“It would keep government open, while we finish the job, and hopefully the Senate can get around to appropriation bills,” McCarthy added.
If President Biden stays on the sidelines while our border is destroyed day after day, the government will shut down.
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) September 27, 2023
Just like we've had strikes in California and Michigan, and embassies evacuated around the world, his lack of leadership has catastrophic consequences. pic.twitter.com/vK8KDTkBhN
McCarthy’s remarks come as Republicans attempt to “pass the 12 separate appropriations bills funding the entire government through the 12 different vehicles rather than through one big one, like an omnibus or another catch-all funding bill for the full government, or most of it,” as Breitbart News detailed. Ultimately, they hope to use this strategy to give conservative Republicans more leverage in winning key policy battles.
Meanwhile, McCarthy has promised to bring his own continuing resolution (CR) — essentially needed at this point to prevent a government shutdown — to the floor, which includes border security.
“Everybody’s talking about a shutdown. And that’s all that’s been in the news. I’m talking about a shutdown too. We need the southern border to be shut down,” Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX) said during a GOP presser, explaining that he had just come from Eagle Pass.
“If you want to talk about heartbreak and tragedy, meet the woman that was brutally assaulted, kidnapped, separated from her husband– 30 stitches in the back of her head, kicked in the face by cartel members. I blame Joe Biden for that, for allowing the cartels to have operational control of the southern border, for allowing the cartels to smuggle and traffic over seven and a half million people in the last two and a half years, for allowing over 150 people who match the terror watchlist to enter this country illegally just this year,” he said.
"Everybody's talking about a shutdown, and that's all that's been in the news. I'm talking about a shutdown too—we need the Southern border to be shut down." – @RepPfluger pic.twitter.com/SVqR2A0dhY
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) September 27, 2023
