House Democratic leaders on Tuesday warned Republicans would threaten a government shutdown if they tie federal funding to President Obama’s executive action on immigration.
{mosads}Emerging from a closed-door caucus meeting with Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, the lawmakers said the Republicans were manufacturing a funding crisis to appease their most conservative members.
Rep. Xavier Becerra (Calif.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, warned of the economic impacts of a shutdown, adding that a budget fight is no place to hash out immigration policy.
“What we don’t need is for Republicans to start playing this social-agenda game in a fiscal document that keeps the economy running. No one needs to sacrifice the 200,000 jobs per month that we’re seeing our economy generate,” Becerra said. “And so, hopefully, we’ll be able to get out of town and celebrate the holidays … rather than sucker punch the middle class by playing these games.”
Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.), vice chairman of the caucus, also called for a clean continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government, saying the Republicans were concocting “make-believe crises.”
Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) piled on.
“It’s pretty cynical for there to be serious discussion about using the federal budget … really risking the entire U.S. economy — in order to make an ideological point about an action taken by the president that’s consistent with action taken by previous presidents,” Kildee said.
Funding for much of the federal government expires on Dec. 11 unless Congress acts before then.