Lavine Issues Statement on Looming Government Shutdown

NORTH SHORE, NEW YORK – Assemblymember Charles Lavine (D-North Shore) has issued the following statement on the possibility of a government shutdown:

Our American democracy is endangered by the looming termination of funding for our national government. Unless the Republican-controlled House of Representatives honors its obligation to protect and defend our nation, the shutdown will be forced upon us at one second past midnight on Sunday, October 1.

I demand that New York’s 11 Republican Congressional representatives act responsibly and vote to fund the government.

Our last shutdown was in December of 2018 and January of 2019. Absent strong leadership in the so-called Party of Lincoln, we face in the next hours the first shutdown since the attempted coup of January 6, 2021.

Our nation is vulnerable. America is endangered by China, Russia, and Iran, cybersecurity threats, threats from domestic terrorists, a federal senator playing Russian roulette by blocking orderly staff promotions in our military, FEMA being forced to ration disaster relief, death threats to our judges, prosecutors and election workers and threats to defund the Federal Bureau of Investigations. Nor is this list exhaustive.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services defines the “Benefits and Responsibilities of Citizenship” to require new Americans to “Swear allegiance to the United States. . .When you decide to become a U.S. citizen, you should be willing to fulfill the responsibilities of citizenship.” Those of us fortunate enough to have already become citizens share that same solemn obligation.

Abdication of the duty of our Republican Congressional representatives to honor their responsibility to fund America jeopardizes our democracy. To be blunt, that is why they are paid. Ironically enough, their pay continues while other federal employees, including more than 15,000 of our Long Island family and neighbors, will not be paid.

I call upon my Republican colleagues in state and local government to join me in demanding that our Republican House members refuse to shut down the United States of America. Whether Democrats or Republicans, we must all “fulfill the responsibilities of citizenship.”

Assemblymember Charles Lavine represents New York’s 13th Assembly District in Nassau County. He presently serves as Chair of the Judiciary Committee and is a member of the Committees on Codes, Ethics and Guidance, Insurance, and Rules.