Price: As NC Wic Benefits Stop, GOP Leaders Shamefully Ignore House Majority Support for Ending Shutdown Today

Statement

Representative David Price (D-NC) issued the following statement today as North Carolina's Department of Health and Human Services announced that it will stop issuing supplemental nutrition benefits to low-income women, infants and children (WIC) because of the federal government shutdown. The federal government shut down last week after Republicans refused to pass a bill funding the government in order to extract political concessions derailing the Affordable Care Act.

"House Republican leaders could end this shutdown today if they would bring up a clean bill opening the entire government--it would pass easily with the support of almost all Democrats and many moderate Republicans. Because they won't, low-income mothers in our community are at risk of not being able to feed their children. Shame on Republican leaders for putting our people through this crisis in order to extract the Tea Party's ransom: derailing health care reform.

"The piecemeal funding charade put forward by House Republicans has gone on long enough. Low-income women and children, veterans, cancer patients and small business owners are not pawns. They'd be able to access all of the services their taxes fund today if Republican leaders would do the jobs they were elected to do and pass a clean funding bill to reopen the government."

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