Malinowski Statement on Government Shutdown

Today, the Departments of Justice, State and Homeland Security are shut down. This reckless action signals to our adversaries that we are vulnerable, and invites efforts to undermine our national security and democratic institutions.

Shutting down our government over a border wall is malpractice of the most absurd kind. Threats on the border can be met far more effectively, for far less money, and without making America look like a fearful fortress. The American people have made it absolutely clear that they don’t want a wall. They want better roads, tunnels and bridges, not a monument to the president’s ego.

The president and his allies in Congress are of course entitled to disagree.  But they are not entitled to shutdown the government and create chaos when they can’t persuade the Congress and the voters to give them everything they want.  Closing the very parts
of the government that keep us secure endangers America far more than any of the threats they have imagined.

It is my strongest hope that responsible leaders on both sides will put country over party and end this fiasco now. If they don’t, I trust the new Congress will do what is needed to reopen the government on January 3rd.