“Plain and simple: Schweikert and radical Republicans are playing politics with our troops and our economy.”
PHOENIX – Ahead of a potential Government shutdown orchestrated by radical Republicans, Andrei Cherny, Democratic candidate for Congress in Arizona’s First Congressional District, called on Rep. David Schweikert to forgo his congressional salary while troops serve without pay. Andrei served as a Navy Reserve Intelligence Officer after 9/11.
“If our troops and military families aren’t getting the paychecks they rely on to pay their groceries and rent, then no member of Congress should collect a paycheck either,” said Cherny. “Congress’s most basic job is to keep the federal government’s lights on to support Arizonans and with a government shutdown, David Schweikert and his fellow Republicans will have failed in that obligation. Members of Congress are a lot less essential than the men and women in uniform. David Schweikert should go without his paycheck until the government is reopened.”
Schweikert has also declined to support a bipartisan bill to ensure troops are paid during a shutdown.
The Pentagon estimates that over one million service members and civilians providing military service will go without a paycheck during a government shutdown. Ernst & Young estimates that a government shutdown will shrink the United States’ economy by $6 billion every single week – slowing economic growth.
Andrei Cherny is a former U.S. Navy reserve officer, Arizona Assistant Attorney General, and CEO of a climate change-fighting business. Andrei and his wife Stephanie are raising their two kids in Phoenix, where they have lived for the past two decades. To learn more, visit www.AndreiForArizona.com.
- https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/5641/cosponsors?s=1&r=1&q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22pay+our+troops+act%22%7D
- https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/26/government-shutdown-military-pay-00118117
- https://www.ey.com/en_us/strategy/macroeconomics/government-shutdown#:~:text=Such%20a%20shutdown%20could%20leave,(in%20annualized%20growth%20terms)
