Congressman Robert Aderholt has issued a statement following the shutdown of the United States government, which occurred just after midnight Eastern time. In his remarks, Aderholt attributed the shutdown to actions taken by Democrats.
“It is now just past midnight on the east coast of the United States and the United States Government is shut down. Let’s be completely clear, this has happened because Democrats rejected a clean continuing resolution (CR) that would have kept the government running for another two months. All summer, Democrats said they would support a CR if it was clean and had no ‘poison pills.’ House leadership took this input from Democrats and delivered just that, a clean CR. In what has become typical fashion, Democrats moved the goalposts and demanded a trillion dollars in government spending in order to keep the government open,” Aderholt stated.
He also addressed claims regarding responsibility for the shutdown: “Some have claimed that because Republicans control the House, Senate, and the White House, this is a so-called ‘Republican shutdown.’ What that ignores is the fact that Senate Democrats are refusing to allow a vote. If they would simply allow the measure to come to the floor, the continuing resolution would pass and the government would remain open.”
Aderholt continued by expressing his opposition to increased spending as part of negotiations over keeping government operations funded. “I do not support holding the government of the United States, and therefore the people of the United States, hostage in order to force more reckless spending that we do not have the money to pay for. Democrats say they want to negotiate and that’s fine. I support that. But why do they think government services must be stopped? A two-month CR would serve both purposes – giving us time to work out spending for next year, while still allowing government services to stay up and running while also continuing to ensure that government employees like our military members get paid on time.”
Robert Aderholt currently represents Alabama’s 4th district in Congress after succeeding Tom Bevill in 1997. He previously served in Alabama’s state legislature before moving to Congress. Born in Haleyville, Alabama in 1965, he continues to reside there at age 57. Aderholt earned his undergraduate degree from Birmingham–Southern College in 1987 and completed his law degree at Samford University in 1990.
