WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (MI-12) released the following statement on the looming government shutdown:

“A federal government shutdown will have a direct impact on families and children. In Michigan, 207,000 women and children will lose access to WIC nutrition assistance, 33,885 federal workers will be furloughed or forced to work without pay, and federal agencies will be closed or operating at reduced capacity due to a lapse in government funding. This is not how you work for the American people.

“Speaker McCarthy has handed his gavel to far-right Republicans who are deliberately forcing a government shutdown because they can’t get their extremist agenda passed. Their own twice-impeached MAGA leader has even urged Republicans in Congress to shut down the government to delay the federal prosecutions against him. Their dangerous game will inflict real harm on our neighbors in communities across our nation.

“This Republican shutdown will interrupt basic government services like passport assistance, put our residents’ safety at risk by halting FDA food inspections and EPA environmental inspections, cause significant delays at airports, block new loans to small businesses, endanger FEMA relief to the recent climate disasters, limit OSHA inspections that protect workplaces from being unsafe, and interrupt the functions of the CDC.

“Republicans have no problem playing political games to force a government shutdown because they know they’re going to continue getting paid while their own employees and working people in their districts live with the devastating consequences. They need to put the people they represent first, not the extremist agenda being pushed by a handful of MAGA Republicans.”

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