Jayapal slams GOP over looming government shutdown: ‘Republicans cannot govern’  

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) sharply criticized her Republican colleagues Wednesday for failing to find a path forward to avert a government shutdown before the looming deadline at the end of the month.

“At this rate, we are headed to a Republican shutdown,” Jayapal said during a CNN interview with Wolf Blitzer. “And that gives me no pleasure to say because a shutdown has terrible consequences for the American people.”

“But the reality is Republicans cannot govern. They are in chaos. They are in ruin. They have not been able to govern from the day that Speaker McCarthy got his speakership and handed the gavel over to Marjorie Taylor Greene,” Jayapal added. 

Jayapal blasted Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for not honoring his deal with President Biden to set budgetary spending caps at certain levels and for opening an impeachment inquiry, which, Jayapal claimed, was reflective of an effort “to try and preserve his House speakership.” It didn’t work, she said.

“And the reality is now he can’t even pass the 11 bills for funding the government with a majority in the party. He can’t get agreement to bring those bills to the floor from his own majority. And they’re loaded with extremist right-wing provisions,” she said. 

Republicans hold a slim majority in the House, and the divided conference has proved challenging to McCarthy’s ability to avert a government shutdown while hanging on to his Speakership. House Republicans have so far been unable to make progress on the actual appropriations bills and have been unable to agree on a continuing resolution — a common procedural step to extend the deadline and buy lawmakers some more time to work on the funding bills.

Jayapal noted, however, that Democrats were able to keep the government open under Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) leadership when they too had a slim majority. 

“Listen, Democrats had the same tiny majority in the last term. We governed. Democrats in the Senate have governed. They’ve passed all their bipartisan spending bills. It is House Republicans that are unable to govern,” she said.