01 Oct State and Local Lawmakers Weigh in on Government Shutdown

“Trump and MAGA Republicans just shut down the government,” California Sen. Alex Padilla, shown speaking on the Senate floor, said Tuesday on social media.

By Katy St. Clair
Bay City News

As the deadline for the U.S. Congress to agree on a budget passed on Tuesday night, effectively greenlighting a federal government shutdown, several state and local lawmakers and elected officials weighed in on the stalemate.

Both the Democratic and Republican parties blocked the other’s stopgap spending proposals on Tuesday, resulting in a shutdown that will hinder federal services and furlough some federal employees. The Democratic plan would have added $1 trillion to health care spending by doing things such as restoring cuts to Medicaid and extending Affordable Care Act subsidies.

“Donald Trump and his lapdog Republicans just shut down the federal government after refusing to protect Americans from an imminent spike in health insurance costs,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom on the social media platform X. “This is what the GOP stands for.”

U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, also decried the shutdown and blamed Republicans, calling it a “manufactured crisis.”

“After kicking 15 million people off of their health care coverage this summer, Congressional Republicans now want to pass a spending bill that increases premiums by 97 percent for Californians enrolled in Covered California plans,” said Thompson in a release sent out by his office Tuesday night. “Our health care system is already broken. We should be working to increase access to affordable care, not raising prices on working people.”

Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota blamed the shutdown Tuesday on the Democrats’ “far-left base and far-left senators.”

“Apparently, the American people just have to suffer the consequences,” Thune said as Congress moved closer to the shutdown on Tuesday.

U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Monterey, said in a Tuesday release from his office that he was against government shutdowns, as they “harm lives and livelihoods.”

“I firmly believe that the people of the United States are yearning for Democrats and Republicans to negotiate, compromise, and govern,” said Panetta. “Unfortunately, for the past nine months the Republican Majority has abdicated its legislative authorities to the executive branch. That is why Democrats will continue our fight to reclaim our Congressional power.”

U.S. Rep. Lateefah Simon, D-Oakland, also decried what she said was the Republicans’ refusal to protect tax credits from the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

“At midnight tonight, the federal government shut down because Republicans refuse to govern,” said Simon in a release from her office. “This isn’t an accident or a last-minute crisis, it’s the intended result that reflects the governing philosophy of the Republican party: chaos over stability, cruelty over care, and power over people.”

U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, also took to social media to comment on the shutdown.

“Trump and MAGA Republicans just shut down the government,” he wrote on X. “They want to fund billionaire tax breaks while blocking Democrats’ plan to protect health care for 20 million Americans, including 1.7 million Californians.”

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