Clara -

Last night at midnight, the Republican House, Senate, and President of the United
States shut down the government.

As a result, some 800,000 federal employees may be sent home without a

paycheck. In fact, many may be required to continue their jobs — without getting
paid.

And let us not forget that these are workers who have kids to feed, mortgages to
pay, and health care expenses.

Meanwhile, all over this country, people who access and need government
services are at risk of not being able to get them.

And if you think my Republican colleagues are staying up late at night worrying
about these people, you would be mistaken.

Because the truth is, just days ago, Republicans and Democrats had a deal to
continue funding the government. In the Senate, we passed something called a
“continuing resolution” unanimously - one the president had indicated he would
sign.

But, as is often the case with our erratic and impulsive president, he flip-flopped
after hearing criticism from Rush Limbaugh, Fox News and other right-wing
commentators.

And all of this is over a wasteful, unnecessary and xenophobic border wall that will
do more harm than good.

In my view, it is long overdue for Republicans in Congress to stand up to Trump.

But if that is ever going to happen, my colleagues need to hear from you. They
need to know that there is a price to pay for standing with Trump when they should
be standing up to him.

Ours is a country that faces enormous problems today.

The stock market is struggling, interest rates are rising, and the Secretary of
Defense is heading for the exit in response to Trump’s make-it-up-as-you-go
foreign policy.

The president’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, is heading to jail, and the Mueller
investigation regarding possible Trump campaign collusion with the Russians is
coming to a head.

At a deeper level, we remain the only major country on earth not to guarantee
health care to all.

Hundreds of thousands of young people cannot afford to go to college, and over

40 million are struggling with outrageous levels of student debt.

Economically, the younger generation will likely have, for the first time in modern
history, a lower standard of living than their parents.

And two recent major reports on climate change have told us that we must combat
aggressively a growing threat to our planet.

Clearly, this president’s erratic and impulsive behavior is a danger to our country
and a major impediment in terms of addressing the crises we face.

His decision to shut down the government is just the latest example of this
destructive pattern.

I believe it is time for Republicans in Congress to stand up to him so that we, in a

bipartisan way, can fund the government and end this shutdown.

This government shutdown did not have to happen. But hopefully if we all make
our voices heard, it will end soon.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders