WASHINGTON, DC - Congressman Brendan F. Boyle (PA-02), Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee, released the following statement after Donald Trump and Russell Vought moved to illegally fire federal workers during the Republican shutdown:

“Republicans would rather shut down the government than help millions of Americans afford health care. Now, Donald Trump and Russell Vought are using the shutdown they created as a pretext to fire federal workers. This illegal attempt to fire hardworking public servants shows that this shutdown is exactly what Republicans wanted all along. To Donald Trump, this is just another excuse for an attempt to seize more power for himself.

Instead of threatening Americans’ livelihoods, Republicans should be working with us to end this shutdown and protect the American people from the health care crisis they inflicted on them.”

A new explainer from Budget Committee Democrats on how the law requires the White House to provide full backpay to all federal workers and prevents Trump and Vought from using their shutdown to carry out mass layoffs is available here.

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