GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville warned that finding a way to continue to pay federal workers amid the ongoing stalemate on Capitol Hill would take the “pressure” off of lawmakers to negotiate a way out.
Asked about Democrats’ desire for a bill to keep paychecks flowing to all federal workers, including those who have been furloughed, instead of making them wait to receive backpay, Tuberville responded, “Well, it’s called a shutdown. I mean, you start paying everybody then no pressure on anybody from either side.”
He said he thinks Congress should leave the issue “as it is,” adding that military and law enforcement should be paid amid the shutdown, and “everybody else, shut it off.”
Federal law requires all furloughed employees to receive back pay, but if the shutdown drags on, hundreds of thousands of federal workers will not get paychecks for weeks.
“There’s got to be some give and take here,” Tuberville said. “There’s got to be some negotiation.”
The Alabama Republican predicted that Americans would be “screaming bloody murder” at the cost to the US economy if Congress agrees to simply extend the expiring enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies.
He acknowledged that ending ACA tax credits would increase premiums for his constituents, but argued that former President Obama’s signature health care law has “ruined our health care system” and attempting to subsidize costs for those in need has “really put us in harm’s way.”
