Republican congressman condemns “jihad” rhetoric from Democrats

“The chairman of the committee says that we should think of the impact before we act. That we should think of the impact on the parks before we vote against this bill,” Miller said.

“The gentleman from Montana yesterday came to the floor and said it’s hurting the local economy, the gentleman from California came and said the towns around Yosemite. Was he thinking about that when he voted originally to shut down the government? He was prepared to sacrifice the local economy; he was prepared to sacrifice the towns around Yosemite. When he was on a jihad against American citizens getting access to healthcare, he was fully prepared to sacrifice the parks and the economy and fire recovery.

“But you know what you found out in the last 24 hours? That millions of Americans went to find healthcare, to sign up for healthcare, to get access to healthcare. And millions of Americans have decided that you are doing the wrong thing in shutting down their government. So, when you were on the jihad against America’s access to healthcare, shutting down the parks wasn’t a problem,” Miller concluded.

The now four-day-long shutdown is expected by many to continue through the weekend, and possibly for the next two weeks as lawmakers find a way to come to a resolution regarding the debt ceiling.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and others have maintained that the shutdown is the healthiest way to deal with these deep issues of principle.

“The Founding Fathers wanted to protect freedom by separating powers so every branch had to negotiate with the others,” Gingrich wrote earlier this week.

As Speaker of the House, Gingrich faced two government shutdowns.

“There are very deep and profound differences between the House Republicans, who won the 2010 election opposing Obamacare, and President Obama, for whom this is his greatest legacy,” Gingrich conceded.

A new poll from Gallup shows that Americans view the current shutdown as much more serious than the one in 1995.

“As non-essential parts of the federal government remain closed, 70 percent of Americans view the shutdown as a crisis or a major problem, even higher than the 56 percent saying the same at the height of the last shutdown in 1995,” Gallup writes.

“Among top U.S. political figures, there are no winners in the budget standoff, at least in the early days of the shutdown. The public sees Republican and Democratic congressional leaders, as well as the president, more negatively as a consequence of the budget impasse,” Gallup concludes.