Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., on Jansing & Co. warned Tuesday that her Republicans colleagues are very serious about their threats to shut the government down or even default on the debt.
“I think they’re very strong in this, I think there are plenty of people on the Republican side of the House in particular who have no fear about shutting down the government. But I would warn them it didn’t work when Newt Gingrich was in place in 1993-’94,” Sanchez said.
Chris Jansing asked, “Are you worried about a shutdown, or worse, about default?”
“I’m worried about both issues,” Sanchez answered, “Anytime we shut down the government we actually end up spending more money in the long run.”
Sanchez, one of the few remaining centrist, blue dog Democrats in the House, also spoke about reports that President Obama is considering 19 possible executive actions on gun control.
“Within the House of Representatives I just do not believe we’re going to find the votes to make legislation,” Sanchez said, citing a possible ban on high-capacity magazines.
Chris Jansing asked, “It sounds Congresswoman like you’re pretty pessimistic about what could be accomplished legislatively, beyond the executive orders?”
Sanchez says she was talking to one of her Republican colleagues and she was told by the Republican, “I don’t think we lose a single vote. And I know at least on the Democratic side I think there will be some who will vote against passing an assault weapons ban.”
Sanchez pointed to districts where re-election is not a question, safe districts that have been gerrymandered.
“They have easy races, and so they probably aren’t worried about saying, ‘Hey, this is part of what we do, we’re not willing to budge on that.’ Probably a lot more of them than those that come from urban areas that see the gun issue being really terrible in our neighborhoods.”
Kristin Donnelly