Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) issued a statement following the lapse in government funding:
“Republicans who control Congress and President Trump have provoked a government shutdown by refusing to work in a bipartisan way on a funding agreement that protects the middle class, retiree pensioners and 800,000 people who receive health care through community health centers. The Republican funding plan shortchanges our veterans, community health centers, infants and mothers who receive home visitations, retired coal miners and other Pennsylvania workers and those dealing with the opioid crisis. There are bipartisan agreements in place that can help Pennsylvania families, but Republicans gave in to the extreme right wing of their party and walked away. I was not elected to genuflect to the demands of extreme House Republicans. I have an obligation to fight for the millions of families left out of this bill. For over 100 days, Republicans didn’t do a damn thing for kids impacted by the lapse in reauthorization of the Children’s House Insurance Program (CHIP). Instead, Republicans in Washington spent months working to pass massive tax cuts for their big corporate donors. Now all of a sudden they pretend like they care? If they truly cared for children like they cared for big corporations then the CHIP extension would be permanent.
Republicans should immediately reopen the government so that we can stay in session until we reach a commonsense agreement.”
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