House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke with reporters Thursday and was asked whether Democrats would be amenable to voting on separate legislation to support U.S. military families—who are already hurt by the Trump administration—while shutdown negotiations continue.

“Yes,” Jeffries answered. “I mean, this is an extraordinary thing. It's unbelievable. Members of the House Republican Conference are upset and perplexed that their leadership has them on vacation. The last day the House was in session was September 19. Republicans got out of town before sundown, and we haven't seen them back in Washington since. This is extraordinary.”....

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He went on to highlight all of the ways that the GOP’s government shutdown has negatively impacted Americans.

“This is a crisis—both in terms of the government shutdown, the impact on the American people, the impact on aviation safety, the impact on public safety, the impact on the health and wellbeing of the American people,” Jeffries said. “And House Republicans remain on vacation. Their own voters are telling them—including the Republican Speaker—’get back into town, sit down with Democrats, engage in a bipartisan negotiation, reopen the government, and address the health care crisis that they've created.’"

The GOP’s shutdown is predictably damaging vital operations that Americans rely on. Yet Republicans’ response has been to threaten federal workers while claiming that they plan to come up with a solution to skyrocketing health care costs—eventually.

As Jeffries rightly points out, Americans just want Republicans to do their damn jobs.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos