As the partial government shutdown is now the longest in U.S. history with little end in sight, both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have asked for their pay be withheld or donated to charities.
Newly-elected Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) was among those made the request last week:
I cannot in good conscience get paid while federal employees’ financial futures hang in the balance because of this partial government shutdown. I’ve asked the Chief Administrative Officer to withhold my pay until we have come to an agreement to adequately fund border security. pic.twitter.com/2g37vAAtx2
— Rep. Dan Crenshaw (@RepDanCrenshaw) January 10, 2019
On Monday, also newly-elected Rep. lhan Omar attacked Crenshaw for “virtue signaling” because they won’t be paid till the first of February:
1) We aren’t paid until Feb 1st, so no pay to withhold now.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) January 15, 2019
2) Vote to reopen the government like we did & give hardworking Fed employees their paychecks. That’s caring!
Stop with the virtue signaling Congressaman, the American people need this to end now, not Feb 1st. https://t.co/2TDjH7XqYG
Not one to back down, the Navy SEAL veteran responded Tuesday evening, pointing to how Democrats have done the same as him.
“Can we have serious discussion about border security now? That’d be great,” he asked:
To my Democrat colleagues who are also (rightfully) withholding your pay during the shutdown- your colleague @IlhanMN would prefer you stop virtue signaling and end the shutdown.
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) January 15, 2019
Can we have serious discussion about border security now? That’d be great. https://t.co/AndMg5SNUe
Crenshaw has voiced his support for funding to go towards a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, which the debate over caused the government to run out of funding in December of 2018.
“Dismissing a wall or fence as an ‘ineffective’ or ‘4th century’ solution is an attempt to undermine the plan without providing any logical reasoning,” Crenshaw tweeted last week. “Don’t succumb to lazy arguments. Let’s think this through, and reopen the government with adequate funding for border security.”