Outgoing Republican lawmaker Rep. Carlos Curbelo slammed the government shutdown, calling it the worse chaos he’s seen in years.
“Still with the benefit (or curse) of an inside perspective, I must say that the instability & chaos in our government the past few days has been particularly pronounced – worse than at any point during my service in Congress, & really, my lifetime,” Curbelo, R-Fla., tweeted early Saturday.
“Things are not well in the USA,” he added.
Still with the benefit (or curse) of an inside perspective, I must say that the instability & chaos in our government the past few days has been particularly pronounced – worse than at any point during my service in Congress, & really, my lifetime. Things are not well in the USA.
— Carlos Curbelo (@carloslcurbelo) December 22, 2018
Curbelo, who lost his reelection bid in November to Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, will leave Congress in January. He was one of eight House Republicans who voted against the legislation that passed Thursday night, which included $5 billion in funding President Trump wants to build a U.S.-Mexico border wall.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, another moderate House Republican who voted against the funding for Trump’s wall, also blasted the “chaos” surrounding the funding fight this week.
“I’m going out [with] a bang with the chaos, uncertainty and the drama that I have come to know and expect out of Congress,” Ros-Lehtinen, who is retiring next month, told CNN on Thursday. “And to expect otherwise is just not rational. Just to expect anything other than unpredictability out of President Trump is foolish.”
Lawmakers resumed talks Saturday after the government shutdown on night Friday.
The House passed the legislation with Trump’s border money on Thursday, but the Senate could not do the same.
The shutdown effects 35 percent of the federal government, and it is the third shutdown in the past year.
