President Donald Trump said last month that he’d take credit for the government shutdown. Citizens are now willing to bestow that honor upon him.
This week, Trump invited some Democrats and Republicans for lunch to discuss the shutdown and spending for border security, including the president’s much-touted southern border wall. The Democrats he invited, however, included members of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition, a group Trump thought would be more friendly to his causes.
But all Democrat invitees rejected the offer.
Last month, Trump changed course at the last minute and refused to sign a new budget that didn’t include funding for the border wall. He’s held the government hostage ever since. But according to White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the president invited both Democrats and Republicans to attend.
“The president looks forward to having a working lunch with House Republicans to solve the border crisis and reopen the government,” Sanders said to reporters. “It’s time for the Democrats to come to the table and make a deal.”
While the Trump administration waits for Democrats to “make a deal,” TSA agents are working without pay, the Food and Drug Administration has cut back on regular food safety testing and the IRS is bringing back more than half of its workforce without pay in time for tax season with officials stating that they will issue refunds but not audit anyone.
And other public sector unions are finding it difficult to console their constituents.
Members of Trump’s cabinet have deflected the blame for the shutdown to the point that Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie called for the head of the veteran’s union to apologize for suggesting that the shutdown would have an adverse effect on veterans.
In a letter, to American Federation of Government Employees President J. David Cox, Wilkie called out Edward Canales, a Federal Bureau of Prisons employee in California and president of AFGE Local 3584, for suggesting in a TV interview that there would be fatalities by suicide if the shutdown continues.
“The notion that most veterans are so fragile from their service that the slightest hint of hardship can push them to the brink of mental breakdown or even self-harm is preposterous,” Wilkie wrote in his letter to Cox. “One of the most insulting and misleading stereotypes about veterans today is that of the ‘veteran as victim,’ which is why veterans and veteran advocates are continuously fighting this shopworn canard.”
AFL-CIO Union Veterans Council Executive Director Will Attig took Wilkie to task for immediately pushing back against all evidence that something of this nature would have a negative effect.
“The Union Veterans Council is astonished by VA Secretary Wilke’s statement that goes against supporting data, research studies and the majority of mental health experts specializing in veterans’ health,” stated Attig. “This is an outrageous attempt to distract from the very serious crisis that tens of thousands of veterans have been hurled into with no end in sight.”
Attig continued, “The reality is we’re hearing from our members on a daily basis. For 24 days we’ve heard the concerns coming directly to our organization from the veterans themselves. This is why the Union Veterans Council has been proactively addressing the continuing life-stressors facing our membership during the last three weeks and will continue speaking out on their behalf for the foreseeable future.”
Locally, AFGE officials; Kevin McCall, national crisis director of the National Action Network; James C.B Gray, executive vice president of the National Action Network; and elected officials took to Lower Manhattan to mark the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. They also showed solidarity with unions affected by the shutdown and called on Trump to end it immediately and bring public employees out of dire straits.
“His last battle was at the forefront of the economic struggle,” Gray said. “For us to be turning back time right now is a slap in the face. I declare and demand … I challenge the president to look himself in a mirror.”
“We are the new national crisis,” said Sal Viola, of AFGE Council 222. “And something needs to be done. Whether it comes from Speaker Pelosi’s side, whether or not it comes from Trump’s side, we are the new national crisis and something has to be done now. Our people cannot continue to suffer, including our veterans, many of them who have just gotten federal jobs.”
“You can only do what president Trump is doing in forcing the shutdown, if you have a complete disrespect for the work they do for keeping our country safe and to keep our city moving safely,” added New York City Public Advocate Candidate Dawn Smalls. “We need to end the shutdown now and we are not going to give him money for his wall.”
But a couple of State Assembly members are looking to alleviate some of the pain for federal employees who call New York home.
New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Assemblymember Kenneth Zebrowski announced this week that the Assembly will pass legislation that would allow local governments and school districts to provide furlough to federal employees and a temporary extension to pay property taxes.
“The Assembly majority can’t reopen the federal government, but we can do our best to help New York State residents that are impacted by the shutdown,” said Heastie in a statement. “Allowing our federal employees to postpone this payment until after the government re-opens will allow them to focus on the basics like groceries, lifesaving medication and taking care of their families.”
“Through no fault of their own, our friends and neighbors who work for the federal government are being forced to live without a paycheck, and they are struggling to figure out how to get by financially,” stated Zebrowski.
Gray, meanwhile, wanted to remind those at the rally that one could use Trump’s own words against him on the shutdown and to keep putting the pressure on his administration.
“In 2013, he gave an interview and said that if there was a shutdown that the president is directly responsible,” said Gray. “And this was a jab at President Barack Obama. It’s now 2019. There is a government shutdown and he’s not taking responsibility.”