Gluesenkamp Perez on Government Shutdown in The Columbian: “Jackhammer is wrong tool”

<p><strong>VANCOUVER, WA – </strong>Over the weekend, <a href="http://gluesenkampperez.house.gov">Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03)</a>, published an <a href="https://www.columbian.com/news/2025/oct/18/local-view-jackhammer-is-wrong-tool/">Op-Ed in The Columbian</a> in which she criticized the D.C. leadership of both parties for “playing a partisan game of chicken” by shutting down the government over policy differences.&nbsp;</p>

<p><em>“We’re now in the third week of a reckless government shutdown, and the only thing either side can see eye to eye on is that it’s the other guy’s fault,”</em> <strong>wrote Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez.&nbsp;</strong></p>

<p><em>“To be clear, I’m not trying to paper over the very real policy disagreement at hand,”</em> <strong>she continued.</strong><em> “Health insurance is a good thing, and I agree with my Democratic colleagues that it’s worth fighting the Republicans’ agenda to curtail middle-class Americans’ access to it.”</em></p>

<p><strong>The Congresswoman went on to write that </strong><em>“Shutting the government down over policy differences is like bringing a jackhammer to a job that needs a chisel. Just because you have a powerful tool in your toolbox doesn’t mean you need to use it at the drop of a hat,”</em> <strong>and </strong><em>“We’re going to continue to face shutdown threats every year if we keep looking at all our disagreements as an excuse to bust out the power tools.”</em></p>

<p>You can read the full Op-Ed in The Columbian <a href="https://www.columbian.com/news/2025/oct/18/local-view-jackhammer-is-wrong-tool/">here</a>.</p>

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<p>The post <a href="https://gluesenkampperez.house.gov/posts/gluesenkamp-perez-on-government-shutdown-in-the-columbian-jackhammer-is-wrong-tool">Gluesenkamp Perez on Government Shutdown in The Columbian: “Jackhammer is wrong tool”</a> appeared first on <a href="https://gluesenkampperez.house.gov">Marie Gluesenkamp Perez</a>.</p>