McCarthy: President Offered Shutdown Solutions, Democrats Vacationed

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy lambasted Democrat leaders from the House floor Wednesday for putting politics before country and vacationing during the shutdown.

“Mister Speaker. I rise in opposition of House Resolution 79 – a glorified press release that this majority is having this chamber spend time on at another yet underwhelming legislative week,” McCarthy began.

“At a time when the country expects its leaders in Washington to look forward, this house majority is looking backward,” he charged. “When our country expects solutions, they’re using this chamber to settle political scores.”

The Minority Leader pointed to those “painfully” affected by the 35-day partial government shutdown, calling the shutdown a “shameful record under this [Democrat] majority’s watch.”

“It’s a shutdown that never had to happen,” he contended. McCarthy referenced an appropriations bill the House passed in December to fund the government, secure the border, and provide disaster assistance to Americans affected by hurricanes and fires. McCarthy blamed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for blocking the bill from passing and thus shutting down the government.

McCarthy recalled the “four reasonable solutions to end the shutdown and secure the shutdown” President Donald Trump offered since the bill was blocked compared to Democrats who “never offered one.”

He went on..