TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Rick Scott says members of Congress should not get paid during a government shutdown. But that could be the least of the worries Floridians would face in there is a shutdown
President Donald Trump says he remains “a little bit torn” about whether it would be better to shut down the government before or after the midterm elections in an effort to secure funding for his long-promised border wall.
Trump says that he’s “a little torn myself” but that he “would personally prefer before.”
He adds, “Whether it’s before or after, we’re either getting it or we’re closing down the government.”
Trump has been threatening another government shutdown to pressure Congress to fund the wall they’ve so far denied him.
Clearly, that would disrupt things in Florida for the over 100,000 federal employees who work and live in the Sunshine State.
Meanwhile, Scott is not talking about how President Trump could avoid all of this shutdown talk but simply not forcing the issue. But Scott is taking aim at his rival Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson in his race for the U.S. Senate.
Scott announced his backing of this proposal during a campaign stop Tuesday in Naples. The Republican governor also criticized Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson for getting paid during past government shutdowns.
Carlie Waibel, a spokeswoman for Nelson’s campaign, pointed out that Nelson had voted in favor of similar proposals in the past. She said that the problem with government in Washington was due to extreme partisans such as Scott.
A Minnesota member of Congress proposed a similar idea back in 2015. Gwen Graham, a Democratic candidate for governor who was in Congress, also proposed ways to prevent a government shutdown in 2015.
