U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen, Dr. Joshua Sharfstein of Johns Hopkins, Protect Our Care Sound the Alarm on Impact of Government Shutdown Amidst Pandemic
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Dr. Joshua Sharfstein of Johns Hopkins, and Protect Our Care’s Coronavirus War Room held a virtual press conference to discuss the damaging ramifications of Republicans’ dangerous willingness to shut down the government during the ongoing pandemic.
Yesterday, Republicans voted to shut down the government in the middle of a pandemic where 120,000 people a day are getting infected with COVID-19 and 2,000 people a day are dying. Republicans have forced a government shutdown before in order to suit their political needs, but as Dr. Fauci puts it, this would be “the worst time in the world” for a government shutdown, as economic recovery is already in a fragile position, ICUs are clogged and turning people away, new variants are raging, and children are getting sick at rapid rates. Despite recent news of a potential deal to avoid a shutdown, Republicans are still willing to let the livelihood of the American people hang in the balance as they refuse to reach an agreement on the debt ceiling.
“The fact is Republicans are once again willing to put our economy and all government operations at risk simply for political purposes,” said U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD). “The Federal government has proven very necessary in addressing the health and economic challenges we’re facing. A government shutdown would be bad anytime but the pandemic has underscored the importance of people coming together to take action to address economic fallout and provide vaccines and essential care. Yet, even at this point of crisis, we saw Republicans in the Senate cast their vote to use the filibuster to block a vote to keep the US government open which would provide critical emergency relief.”
“This remains an incredibly difficult time for health in the US, for everyone no matter their political party, as 2,000 people die per day from COVID. This government shutdown is a massive distraction to stop from helping families of all backgrounds across the country,” said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, Professor of the Practice in Health Policy and Management at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “You cannot carry out critical activities if workers are furloughed or out of action. During a shutdown, the CDC could furlough more than 50% of their staff. The projections are mostly positive barring any new and destructive variants but we have to follow through on our protection measures.
“Republicans have proven that they will stop at nothing to sabotage a pandemic response—even if it means forcing a government shutdown as Americans continue to suffer,” said Protect Our Care Executive Director, Brad Woodhouse. “This is just the latest effort to undermine the administration’s fight against the pandemic. As Americans are faced with a fragile economy, children are getting sicker, and cases rise, Republicans have chosen to shamelessly fight proven effective measures such as mask and vaccine mandates, undermine science and attack experts like Dr. Fauci, and push conspiracy theories and disinformation that would harm not protect those most vulnerable.”