EXCLUSIVE: NRSC memo explains to Senate stakeholders across the country how Schumer Shutdown is devastating Democrats
The Schumer Shutdown is bad news for Democratic incumbents and challengers, the NRSC argues in a new memo obtained exclusively by the Washington Reporter.
As the Schumer Shutdown enters its second month, tens of millions of Americans who receive SNAP benefits are poised to see those cut as soon as this weekend — and the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) is out with guidance, obtained exclusively by the Washington Reporter, that lays out why Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) is squarely to blame for these cuts.
“As the Schumer Shutdown drags on and the SNAP deadline approaches, it’s important for Senate Republicans to drive home our message both nationally and in battleground states: Democrats are demanding free health care for illegals over paychecks and benefits for working American families and our troops,” the memo reads. “This week alone, Schumer and Senate Democrats voted against paying essential federal workers, against funding SNAP benefits for 42 million Americans, and against paying our military.”
The memo goes on to contrast how Senate Republicans and Democrats are approaching the shutdown and its consequences, while also giving a state-by-state overview of how the “Schumer Shutdown is hurting families, threatening benefits, and putting illegal aliens ahead of Americans across the country and in Senate Battlegrounds.”
“Democrats’ partisan proposal to reopen the government demands free health care for illegal aliens and guts the historic $50 billion investment in rural health care delivered through President Trump and Senate Republicans’ Working Families Tax Cut,” the memo explains.
On the flip side, “Republicans want our troops, Border Patrol agents, and air traffic controllers to get their paychecks. Democrats want free health care for illegal aliens,” it notes.
Nationally, the NRSC notes that over a million servicemembers are “at risk of missing their paychecks the longer the Schumer shutdown lasts,” 42 million Americans on SNAP will lose that assistance this week, and over 6,000 small businesses have been blocked from receiving over $3 billion in capital since the shutdown started.
On a state-by-state basis, the NRSC lays out just how damaging the Schumer Shutdown is for Democratic Senate candidates, and how many of them have voted to prolong the suffering.
In Maine, Gov. Janet Mills “supports Chuck Schumer and Democrats voting to shut down the government,” the committee noted. All the while, “160,000 SNAP benefit enrollees (63,000 of whom are children) are at-risk of not receiving their benefits this week,” “around 17,000 (2.6% of state workforce) federal workers furloughed or working without pay,” and “18,000 WIC (Women, Infants and Children) program recipients will go without nutritional support once limited local contingency funding runs out” on her watch as governor.
In Michigan, Rep. Haley Stevens (D., Mich.) voted to shut the government down, and her most credible opponents in the Democratic primary have said that they agree with the shutdown. Consequently for Michiganders, “around $92 million in SBA loan distributions [are] delayed,” “10,600 seniors delayed in receiving their Social Security benefits via check,” and “1,474,000 SNAP benefit enrollees (572,000 of whom are children) are at-risk of not receiving their benefits this week.”
In Georgia, challengers like Reps. Mike Collins (R., Ga.) and Buddy Carter (R., Ga.) voted repeatedly to fund the government, while Sen. Jon Ossoff (D., Ga.) has sided with Schumer on shutting it down. In this case, the NRSC added a note that “a ‘Democratic insider’ told the Hill, ‘[Ossoff’s] calculus is, ‘Do I vote to open the government up and get crushed and can’t raise a single dollar of low-dollar money or do I vote to shut the government down and get $3 million [from online fundraising]?’’”
In North Carolina, the NRSC accuses former Gov. Roy Cooper (D., N.C.) of hiding in “Schumer’s basement” amidst questions on how he would vote on the shutdown, while adding that “around 79,000 (1.6% of state workforce) federal workers [are] furloughed or working without pay.”
Likewise in Ohio, where former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio) is running to return to the Senate, the NRSC noted that Brown “has refused to say how he would vote on the government shutdown because he’s scared of being held accountable by Ohioans for selling out to the far left.” Meanwhile, “1,451,000 SNAP benefit enrollees (563,000 of whom are children) are at-risk of not receiving their benefits this week.”
In Iowa, where Rep. Ashley Hinson (R., Iowa) has voted to fund the government, her opponents have echoed the talking points from Washington, D.C. Democrats about how the shutdown can be leverage for them to extract policy concessions.
“Nathan Sage called the shutdown an ‘opportunity’ for Schumer and the Democrats ‘to get things done for people,’” for example. Similarly, “Josh Turek said outright that, ‘In this particular case [he] would vote with the Democrats,’ admitting to Iowans that he cares more about healthcare for illegal aliens than he does about their paychecks and their SNAP benefits.” And “Zach Wahls said Senate Democrat leadership should be ‘utilizing every tool in the toolbox’ in fighting Republicans and told Democrats ‘hold the line,’ keeping the government shut down and cut off to Americans.”
In Alaska, where Sen. Dan Sullivan (R., Alaska) voted to open the government, the NRSC noted that the state has already seen a “Gross State Product decline of $161 million per month.”
Finally, in New Hampshire, Rep. Chris Pappas (D., N.H.) voted against opening the government, and here the NRSC seized on his hypocrisy.
“In 2021, 2022, and 2023, when Joe Biden was President, Chris Pappas voted in favor of continuing resolutions to keep the government open and working for the American people,” it noted.
The full memo can be read below.
