Biden’s budget director says ‘guy who picks up my trash’ won’t get paid during the shutdown – and slams Kevin McCarthy for his ‘theater’ in claiming he won’t take a salary
Biden’s budget director says ‘guy who picks up my trash’ won’t get paid during the shutdown — and slams Kevin McCarthy for his ‘theatrics’ in claiming he won’t take a salary
- The government moved closer to a shutdown on Friday with the collapse of the Republican bill
- The White House accused Republicans of backtracking on an earlier spending deal
- Biden’s budget director blasted Kevin McCarthy for saying he would forgo pay
President Joe Biden’s budget director blasted Republican leader Kevin McCarthy for leading the federal government into a shutdown and dismissed his pledge not to take a paycheck as nothing more than political theater.
Hardline Republicans on Friday rejected the House Speaker’s compromise attempt to keep the government open beyond Saturday’s deadline.
It means two million military troops will have to go without pay, lay off hundreds of thousands of federal workers and disrupt the services Americans rely on from coast to coast.
Earlier in the day, McCarthy said he would forgo his congressional salary during a shutdown.
But his offer was ridiculed by White House Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young.
President Joe Biden’s budget director, Shalanda Young, blasted Republican leader Kevin McCarthy for leading the federal government into a shutdown and dismissed his pledge not to accept a paycheck as nothing more than political theater during a briefing on Friday
‘I am happy that the speaker made this statement. Besides, members of Congress are constitutionally required to be paid, so maybe he’ll put it in a sock drawer, he told reporters at the White House.
“They need to get paid during a shutdown.
‘That’s theatre. That’s theatre.
“I’ll tell you, the guy who picks up trash in my office doesn’t get paid. That is real. And that makes me angry.’
McCarthy appeared increasingly vulnerable with the collapse of his compromise bill, which would have imposed budget cuts of nearly 30 percent and severed border security provisions.
“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 suspend most of its regulatory activities as the clock ticks Sunday morning without a bailout package.
About four million federal workers will see their pay packages disrupted.
The White House said Republicans were entirely responsible for the mess after agreeing to a debt ceiling earlier this year that set spending levels, only to backtrack on the deal.
Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, California, speaks to the media about efforts to pass appropriations bills and prevent a looming government shutdown
Student loan borrowers are holding a protest outside the White House to denounce the possible shutdown of Kevin McCarthy’s administration and demand an extension of the student loan payment holiday.
Trash cans overflow as people outside the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial at the Tidal Basin sitting, December 27, 2018, in Washington, during a partial government shutdown
Young scoffed at whether Democrats had been wrong to trust McCarthy.
“I’m not going there,” she said. “And it’s not a trust exercise, right. We have passed a law.
‘I didn’t fall backwards in the woods… no trust exercise. 70% of Republicans in the House of Representatives voted for a bill, so it can no longer be trusted.
‘We have a law. What else should we do?’
She added that Biden was determined to do the right thing.
“This is who the Republican Conference chose to chair,” she said. “He asked to work with us on the budget deal. We did that… we find ourselves here.”
As a result, the White House has rebuffed McCarthy’s overtures to meet with Biden for talks.
“Extreme House Republicans are now tripling down on their demands to destroy programs that millions of hardworking families rely on,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.