Politics

FLASHBACK: Schumer Said Shutting Down Government Over Immigration Would Be ‘Chaos’ [VIDEO]

REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

Derek Hunter Contributor
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As a government shutdown looms over Democrats’ demand for amnesty for 800,000 so-called DREAMers, illegal aliens brought to the country by their parents when they were children, the Democratic leader in the Senate said in 2013 that doing just that would be “chaos.”

New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, is prepared to lead a filibuster against a temporary spending measure to keep the federal government funded for four more weeks as Republicans and Democrats attempt to find a solution to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allowed temporary legal status to the so-called DREAMers. Without a temporary spending bill, called a continuing resolution, the government will shut down Friday night.

But in 2013, when Republican Sen. Ted Cruz led a filibuster that temporarily shutdown the government over spending issues, Schumer was singing a different tune about the idea of blocking funding over immigration.

Appearing on the ABC News program “This Week,” Schumer said, “basically, it’s sort of like this: someone goes into your house, takes your wife and children hostage and then says, let’s negotiate over the price of your house. You know, we could do the same thing on immigration. We believe strongly in immigration reform. We could say, ‘We’re shutting down the government, we’re not gonna raise the debt ceiling, until you pass immigration reform.’ It would be governmental chaos.”

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