Gluesenkamp Perez on Government Shutdown in The Columbian: “Jackhammer is wrong tool”

VANCOUVER, WA – Over the weekend, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03), published an Op-Ed in The Columbian in which she criticized the D.C. leadership of both parties for “playing a partisan game of chicken” by shutting down the government over policy differences. 

“We’re now in the third week of a reckless government shutdown, and the only thing either side can see eye to eye on is that it’s the other guy’s fault,” wrote Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez. 

“To be clear, I’m not trying to paper over the very real policy disagreement at hand,” she continued. “Health insurance is a good thing, and I agree with my Democratic colleagues that it’s worth fighting the Republicans’ agenda to curtail middle-class Americans’ access to it.”

The Congresswoman went on to write that “Shutting the government down over policy differences is like bringing a jackhammer to a job that needs a chisel. Just because you have a powerful tool in your toolbox doesn’t mean you need to use it at the drop of a hat,” and “We’re going to continue to face shutdown threats every year if we keep looking at all our disagreements as an excuse to bust out the power tools.”

You can read the full Op-Ed in The Columbian here.

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