Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) told conservative Republicans Thursday to release their grip on the Republican Party and allow the House to vote on a resolution reopening the government. [WATCH VIDEO]
“We need to stop the extreme attitude,” Jackson Lee said on the House floor. “We need to recognize that the poor people of America, the people of America, need this shutdown to stop and the extreme element of the Republican party needs to stand down while Republicans, 20 of them, and Democrats, 200-plus, vote to open the government now.”
She spoke on the 10th day of the partial government shutdown, which Democrats say was created by Republican demands to undermine ObamaCare as part of a 2014 spending resolution. She said the shutdown was caused by “an extreme factor in the Republican Party.”On Thursday, GOP leaders in the House were considering a plan that again asks President Obama for talks about 2014 spending levels, something Obama has refused. The GOP is also looking to pass a six-week extension of the debt ceiling.
Jackson Lee followed Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), who accused House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) of following a “cult” of members within the GOP.
“I urge you, Mr. Speaker, to become the Speaker of the House and not spokesperson for a fringe cult within the GOP caucus,” she said.
Moore said that, while the GOP says it wants to negotiate, it still refuses to consider new taxes, which she said shows Republicans do not want to hold a serious negotiation.
It’s just obvious from your words and deeds, Mr. Speaker, since you … have blocked negotiations 18 times over the last year,” she said. “Mr. Speaker, you’re putting the country through this ‘shut ‘er down’ theater that you called for in the last Republican campaign.”