Biden’s budget director says “the guy who picks up my trash” won’t be taking a paycheck during the shutdown – and criticizes Kevin McCarthy for his “theatrics” by claiming he won’t be taking a paycheck
- With the failure of the GOP bill, the government moved closer to a shutdown on Friday
- The White House accused Republicans of backing out of the earlier spending deal
- Biden’s budget director criticized Kevin McCarthy for forgoing payments
President Joe Biden’s budget director criticized Republican leader Kevin McCarthy for shutting down the federal government and dismissed his promise not to take a paycheck as nothing more than political theater.
Hardline Republicans on Friday rejected the House speaker’s compromise efforts to keep the government open past Saturday’s deadline.
That means two million military members will go without pay and hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be furloughed, disrupting the services Americans rely on from coast to coast.
Previously, McCarthy said he would forego his congressional salary during a shutdown.
But his offer was ridiculed by Shalanda Young, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.
President Joe Biden’s budget director, Shalanda Young, criticized Republican leader Kevin McCarthy for leading the federal government into a shutdown and dismissing his promise not to take a paycheck as nothing more than political theater during a briefing Friday
“I’m glad the speaker made that statement.” “By the way, members of Congress have to be paid constitutionally, so maybe he’ll put it in a sock drawer,” he told reporters at the White House.
“They need to be paid during a shutdown.”
“This is theater. This is theater.
“I’m telling you, the guy who picks up the trash in my office isn’t going to get a paycheck.” This is real. And that’s what makes me angry.’
With the failure of his compromise bill, which would have imposed spending cuts of nearly 30 percent and stricter border security regulations, McCarthy appeared increasingly vulnerable.
“It’s not the end yet, I have other ideas,” he told reporters.
The National Park Service will close and the Securities and Exchange Commission will halt most of its regulatory activities as Sunday morning rolls around without a bailout.
About four million federal employees will be faced with losing their salaries.
The White House said Republicans were solely to blame for the mess after they agreed to a debt ceiling earlier this year that set spending levels, only to back out of the deal.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., speaks to the media about efforts to pass budget legislation and avert a looming government shutdown
Student loan borrowers protest outside the White House to denounce Kevin McCarthy’s potential government shutdown and demand an extension of the student loan payment pause
The trash can overflows as people sit in front of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial at the Tidal Basin during a partial government shutdown on December 27, 2018 in Washington
Young scoffed at the question of whether Democrats were wrong to trust McCarthy.
“I won’t go there,” she said. “And it’s not a trust exercise, right. We passed a law.
“I didn’t fall backwards in the woods…not an exercise in trust.” 70% of Republicans in the House voted for a bill, so it can’t be trusted.
“We have a law. What else should we do?’
She added that Biden is determined to do the right thing.
“This is who the Republican Conference chose to be its speaker,” she said. “He asked to work with us on the budget agreement. ‘We have done that…we are here.’
As a result, the White House rejected McCarthy’s offer to meet Biden for talks.
“The extreme Republicans in the House of Representatives are now tripling down on their calls to destroy programs that millions of hardworking families rely on,” said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.