From Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA07)’s campaign:
Spanberger Responds After Vega Says “We Have to” Shut Down the Federal Government
Virginia’s 7th District Is Home to Thousands of Career Federal Employees
FREDERICKSBURG, VA – U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger today is responding to her opponent’s support for a full government shutdown.
In a Tuesday interview with conservative radio host John Fredericks, Yesli Vega said she would vote to shut down the government if elected to the U.S. House.
HOST: If push comes to shove, and it comes to this, are you in favor of shutting this government down and grinding Biden’s administration to a halt through appropriations and choking the money off as long as it takes not just a month, two months, as long as it takes… you in favor for that?
VEGA: I certainly think that we have to slam the brakes and we have to, you know, take a closer look at what’s happening and yes, government is not the solution, right? Government tends to be the problem, and so you’re over here creating these problems — and you want to do nothing to fix them. So if it has to come to that, I think that we have to.
Rep. Abigail Spanberger – a former federal law enforcement officer and CIA case officer – released the following statement in response to Ms. Vega’s comments:
“The notion that my opponent would vote to shut down the government — just because her political party is not in the White House — means that she doesn’t understand the catastrophic impacts of shutdowns on Virginians, Virginia’s economy, our nation’s economy, and our national security.
“My opponent is telling Virginians whose side she wants to take in Congress – and it’s not the side of the American people who depend on a functioning government, not the side of Virginia’s thousands of federal employees or contract workers, and not the side of the career FBI agents,CBP agents, and every other federal law enforcement or intelligence officer who must work without pay during government shutdowns.
“In a district that is home to thousands of proud, career public servants, she is completely out of touch.”
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When Spanberger was first sworn into office in 2019, she introduced legislation – the Stop STUPIDITY Act – to help prevent future government shutdowns and protect federal workers from being used as negotiating tools in federal budget talks. The bill was the first she introduced as a Member of the U.S. House.
During Spanberger’s first month in Congress, she and a bipartisan group of lawmakers joined former President Trump in the White House to help negotiate the end to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
Virginia’s Seventh District is home to thousands of government employees whose family income relies on an open federal government.
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