Republican lawmaker Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) called the 31-day partial government shutdown “idiotic” in a Sunday CNN interview, calling on his colleagues in Congress “to be adults” and negotiate a compromise.
“This is an idiotic shutdown,” Kinzinger said. “The American people deserve far better from those of us that are elected to represent 750,000 people—to be adults, to be grownups, to understand that we’re not going to get our way. This is to Republicans and Democrats by the way. And let’s just solve this. There are a lot of people hurting right now.”
Kinzinger’s willingness to criticize members of his own caucus didn’t extend to President Trump, who boasted that he would own the shutdown and keep it going for “years” unless he gets $5 billion for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Kinzinge praised a deal Trump proposed on Saturday, which offset the wall funding with temporary sweeteners for Democrats like $800 million for urgent humanitarian aid and “three years of legislative relief” for some 700,000 “Dreamers” who were brought to the U.S. as children.
Democrats dismissed the proposal as a “non-starter,” noting that the Trump administration was behind the push to terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy in the first place.
“Offering some protections back in exchange for the wall is not a compromise but more hostage taking,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said.
Kinzinger called Trump’s proposed deal a “bold move,” saying the three-year delay would give Congress time to work on a comprehensive immigration reform package.
The Illinois Republican is one of few GOP lawmakers to take steps to reopen the government. Earlier this month, he joined Democrats and a handful of other Republican colleagues to vote to fully restore funding to key agencies like the Treasury Department and IRS.
