WASHINGTON – Last week, two of the five remaining Republican Congress members from Illinois voted with the Democrats and against President Trump to fund departments involved in the ongoing budget dispute.
U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (IL-16) called the shutdown "stupid" in a Facebook post Tuesday:
Tuesday, Congressman Rodney Davis (IL-13) and several other Republicans met with the President at the White House to discuss the shutdown. Davis, who voted with Kinzinger and Democrats on a couple of crucial funding votes, spoke with reporters after meeting with Trump – and no Democrats.
“Many of my Democratic colleagues who have stated time and time again they were willing to work with the Trump administration to solve our country’s problems. They were invited, and none of them showed up,” Davis said.
Republicans Mike Bost (IL-12) and Darin LaHood (IL-18) have both issued statements in support of the wall for which Trump wants funding – the very measures Kinzinger and Davis opposed.
LaHood's office issued this statement last Thursday:
Just a few hours ago, Speaker Pelosi, after being handed the Speaker’s gavel, spoke to Americans pledging bipartisanship in the new Congress. Yet, the first spending bill she puts forth for a vote refuses to shed any compromise on the underlining issue to help secure our borders and keep the government open. It’s a shame to see politics placed ahead of national security.
As elected officials, we have an obligation to keep our constituents safe, and that is why I voted to provide a $5.7 billion increase in border security funding and open the government last month. It is unfortunate that my colleagues across the aisle have decided to placate to the most extreme corners of their base and put forward a spending plan that the Senate will not take up and the President will not sign. Border security is and should be a bipartisan issue. I stand ready to work with my colleagues on finding a reasonable solution, but the Democrats have yet to meet us halfway.
In response to an earlier vote in December 2018 on border security, Bost said:
The highest responsibility of Congress is to ensure the safety and security of our nation and the American people. It’s an embarrassment that Nancy Pelosi and other Washington Democrats would play politics and risk shutting down the federal government over common sense security measures that they are already on record supporting. Not only does this bill avert a shutdown of the federal government, it also makes our nation safer by providing critical funding to strengthen security on our borders. Let me be crystal clear: we must secure our borders, and no threat of a Pelosi shutdown changes that fact.
The remaining Republican Illinois caucus member John Shimkus has not issued statements on the issue.
