True Patriot Bernie Sanders Stands Up For Kids and The Troops As Republican Cabal Pushes Government Shutdown

Senator Bernie Sanders is showing Republicans what a true patriot acts like by standing up for those who be hurt the most if the republican cabal shuts down the government.

In a statement, Senator Sanders (I-VT):

Republicans are once again taking us to the edge of a government shutdown, demanding we take away health care from the American people. Defunding Planned Parenthood would deny hundreds of thousands of Americans access to services such as birth control, cancer screenings and STI tests.

We know shutting the government down will disrupt the economy and cost us jobs – it did in 2013 and it will if Republicans do it again. I hope my colleagues in both the House and the Senate come to their senses. Kids in Head Start, federal employees, the men and women of our military and law enforcement agencies and so many others should not pay the price for such a radical agenda.

Government shutdowns are no longer uncharted territory.

A non-partisan OMB report after the 2013 shutdown found that the Republican behavior cost taxpayers billions of dollars and denied millions Americans needed services. According to the White House Council of Economic Advisors cost the country 120,000 jobs.

Sen. Sanders was correct. All public employees, including those who serve in the military and work in law enforcement, are harmed by a government shutdown. Millions of people from kids who are enrolled in Head Start to seniors are denied access to needed services.

The country has been down this road before, and it is up to true public servants like Bernie Sanders to remind Republicans that shutting down the government is not a victimless crime.

Real people will hurt by the Republican decision to place ideological politics ahead of the needs of a nation. A real patriot would not be trying to figure out how to keep the government open while saving their own skin as John Boehner is doing.

A real patriot will fight for what is right, and sacrifice for the good of all. Republicans mock Bernie Sanders for his liberal political beliefs, but it looks like Sen. Sanders loves his country more than the self-styled Republican patriots.