Mainstream GOP hit for being ‘missing in action’ in effort to avoid shutdown

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) blasted a fellow New Yorker and GOP lawmaker for being “missing in action” on combating a looming federal government shutdown.

Jeffries took aim at some centrist House Republicans who said they would join House Democrats in forcing a vote on a continuing resolution but have yet to do so.

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He specifically named Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), who said last week he would join Democrats in signing a discharge position if his party cannot come together and formulate a stopgap spending bill.

“There is zero evidence that Mike Lawler or any of the so-called moderate Republicans in New York or anywhere else throughout this nation are willing to work with House Democrats to end this extreme MAGA Republican shutdown crisis,” Jeffries said during a press conference on Thursday. “Zero evidence.”

Evan Vucci/AP

The government is facing a shutdown beginning Oct. 1, when funding will run out unless Congress can pass a continuing resolution. The procedure has been held up in the House as legislators continue to consider bills that go against the debt ceiling compromise made between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and President Joe Biden.

Jeffries said the Democratic caucus stands “ready, willing, and able” to find consensus with Republicans but knocked his colleagues on the other side of the aisle for failing to take initiative.

“As I mentioned from the very beginning, we are ready, willing, and able to find common ground with House Republicans to make life better for everyday Americans in any way possible. But we need willing partners. And those partners may talk a good game, but they are missing in action,” Jeffries said.

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“And every single time they’ve had an opportunity to do the right thing, instead of standing up for the American people, they join Marjorie Taylor Greene and the right-wing extremists in voting against the interests of the American people,” he added.

The Washington Examiner reached out to Lawler’s office for comment.