FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 25, 2019
Contact: Emily Phelps | press@indivisible.org
Washington, DC—The Indivisible Project’s co-executive director Ezra Levin released the following statement in response to the deal reached to end the shutdown:
“Trump caved because the people demanded it.
Trump held the country, our government and immigrant families hostage for more than a month, refusing to let them go unless he got his dumb, medieval wall. Today, he caved. He agreed to reopen the government without getting a single new dollar for his wall. He didn’t do this because he wanted to; he did this because he was forced to. Thousands of people made phone calls, held local actions, and pressured their Members of Congress to stand up to Trump. And the Democratic leadership listened.
Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans deserve a healthy part of the blame for the last five weeks of pain. This shutdown began under unified Republican control of Congress, and it continued for weeks because Senate Republicans refused to reopen the government. House Democrats voted ten times to reopen the government with no strings attached. But only after Trump caved were Senate Republicans willing to vote to reopen the government. This is not how the separation of powers is supposed to work in American democracy. They should be ashamed of themselves.
Indivisible stands in solidarity with hundreds of thousands of federal employees and their families who have gone a month without pay. President Trump and Senate Republicans caused them unnecessary harm in pursuit of his hateful policy agenda. We’re glad they’re finally getting the relief they deserve -- and we’ll keep fighting for them during the next inevitable Trump temper tantrum.
The next fight is just around the corner. There is no crisis at the border, and Indivisible rejects the notion that we need any more money for border security or to terrorize immigrant families. We will continue to work with directly-affected groups to ensure that no deal is struck over the next three weeks that would pay for Trump’s wall, to cage more families, or for more border agents. And Indivisibles from across the country expect Democrats to hold strong.
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ABOUT THE INDIVISIBLE PROJECT
The Indivisible Project is a registered 501(c)(4) nonprofit. Our mission is to cultivate and lift up a grassroots movement of local groups to defeat the Trump agenda, elect progressive leaders, and realize bold progressive policies. Across the nation, thousands of local groups are using the Indivisible Guide to hold their members of Congress accountable. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee.