Karoline Leavitt on Shutdown: Private Industry and Union Leadership Are Unified, “Democrats Have Completely Lost The Plot”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday called the Democrats’ refusal to vote to reopen the government “a total disgrace.”
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Nice to see you on this beautiful fall afternoon. We are now on day 35 of the Democrat government shutdown. The Democrats’ obstructionism will break the record for the longest government shutdown in American history tonight. The Democrats are intentionally hurting American families, workers, and businesses with this shutdown to fight for free healthcare for illegal aliens and to appease their radical left-wing base. And it’s a total disgrace. This past weekend, Americans traveling to weddings, funerals, vacations, and meetings faced significant flight disruptions at airports across the country because of staffing shortages. On Sunday alone, more than 5,000 flights traveling to and from U.S. airports were delayed. Since the Democrat shutdown began, four times as many staffing shortages have been reported at air traffic control facilities compared to last year. TSA checkpoint wait times ballooned past three hours at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport with some passengers enduring up to five hours in line. At nearby William P. Hobby Airport in Texas, security wait times are routinely exceeding one hour. More than 13,000 air traffic controllers are continuing to work without pay. Because of the Democrats, these men and women who keep our airspace safe and moving will miss a second paycheck in a row this Friday if Democrats refuse to open the government. Let me be clear to our incredible air traffic controllers across the country. President Trump and Republicans want you to get your paychecks. They want you to be paid. Please call on your Democrat senators and tell them to side with President Trump and Republicans to vote to reopen the government. Our nation’s four largest airlines, United, Delta, American, and Southwest, have now all endorsed the Republican, nonpartisan, clean funding bill to end the government shutdown. Major unions, collectively representing tens of thousands of pilots, have also joined the airlines in calling on Democrats to pass the clean, nonpartisan CR. The travel industry is also imploring Democrats to end the shutdown and reopen the government. Nearly 500 companies and groups in the travel business, including casinos, hotels, and convention bureaus, signed a public letter warning that America’s travel economy has already lost $ 4 billion due to this Democrat shutdown, and they have called for the Republican CR to be passed, saying Americans expect and deserve a fully functioning federal government during the peak holiday travel season. Never before have we seen private industry and union leadership so unified on the same issue, rallying behind Republicans in such a vocal way. The Democrats have completely lost the plot. They are endangering the safety, prosperity, and livelihoods of millions of Americans. It’s well past time Democrats do what they did 13 times under Joe Biden and pass the clean funding bill extension. All we need are five Democrat senators to put country over party and vote to end this reckless shutdown. In other news, tomorrow will mark the one-year anniversary of President Trump’s historic election victory, where he won nearly 80 million votes, the popular vote in all seven swing states. This was the ultimate poll on November 5th.
