She is hoping a solution to avert a shutdown will come before the Oct. 1st deadline.
Rep. April McClain Delaney
Washington DC (KM) The possible shut down of the federal government won’t be like others in the past, according to 6th District Representative April McClain Delaney. “I keep saying this shut down will make America break,” she said. “It could literally break America.”
By the end of the federal fiscal year, Oct. 1st, the government could run out of money, and it would cease most operations. McClain Delaney says it would hurt many of her constituents she has spoken with during visits to her Congressional District. “The single mother that’s struggling to get her Medicaid benefits on time.. And some of the veterans waiting for critical treatment. And there was this grandma who relies on Social Security checks to buy groceries. When it’s delayed, she might not get support if there’s a shut down again,” says McClain Delaney.
She also said farmers would not be able take advantage of the programs administered by the US Department of Agriculture following a shut down. “That the USDA can’t do a lot of the things that they’re doing in terms in compensation, funding, grants. It means that we’re going to have a fraction of very essential employees at Social Security, IRS,’ says Representative McClain Delaney.
Unlike other shutdowns in the past, McClain Delaney says this one will be different. “They’re threatening mass terminations of our federal workforce. It is not anything like the ‘Common Sense, Common Ground’ that I ran on. This is quite dangerous and chaos,” she says.
The White House has said there could be mass firings if federal government funding disappears next week.
But Congresswoman McClain Delaney says there’s a small chance a shut down could be averted in time. “I think there could be. But I think they need to come to the table and at least dialog with us. RIght? Whatever leverage that we have to actually stop some of the chaos,”: she says.
Last week, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would keep the government running until November 20th. All Republicans and one Democrat voted in favor.
The legislation crossed over into the Senate where Democrats blocked passage. Instead, they offered legislation which had a number of health care provisions, and restored Medicaid cuts made by the “Big Beautiful Bill” Congress passed earlier this year. Republicans say these and other priorities should be debated as part of annual appropriations and not part of a short-term solutions. Democrats want to use the funding deadline to restore these health care provisions.
President Trump had agreed to meet with Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and House Leader Hakeen Jeffries to find a solution, but the President canceled that meeting on Tuesday,, saying it would not be very productive. In an X posting, Trump called the Democrats’ proposal “unserious” and “ridiculous.”
The Democrats say Trump is running away from the negotiating table, and as a result will own the shutdown.
By Kevin McManus