Last week second-year College student and Virginia Young Democrats Political Director Jarrod Nagurka authored an article published by The Cavalier Daily rebuking Charlottesville’s sitting Congressman Robert Hurt for voting against the compromise measure which ended a 16-day government shutdown and blaming the shutdown entirely on Republicans. Jarrod’s opinion reflects the common narrative portrayed by the media and every card-carrying member of the Democratic party, but it is not at all an accurate depiction of recent events.
Both parties share responsibility for the government shutdown and for the decade of irresponsible deficit spending that precipitated it. Since retaking the House of Representatives in 2010, however, Republicans have sought compromise after compromise to rein in government spending while keeping our safety net sustainable for current and future generations. After numerous attempts to defund the health care law which a sweeping Democratic majority passed without even listening to Republican concerns (President Obama had notably chastised McCain when he raised a suggestion during the discussion, reminding him that the election was over and he lost), Republicans offered numerous compromises to reform the vastly unpopular law and make it more amenable to the American people. In the 10 days before the government shutdown, Republicans offered four separate proposals to fund the government and avert a shutdown. Only the first of these proposals would have actually defunded the unpopular law. Rebuffed in this effort, Republicans subsequently returned to the drawing board and offered three consecutive compromises, each yielding a little more to the Democrats. The final proposal would have delayed the individual mandate for one year and cancelled the bill’s subsidies for lawmakers, but even though the White House had already offered waivers and delays to corporations and unions, they refused to give the same relief to the American people and would not even sacrifice the special subsidies they had voted to give to themselves and their staff.
Throughout the duration of the government shutdown, the Republican House of Representatives voted to minimize the consequences of the shutdown and give the American people relief by passing resolutions to restore funding to the National Institutes of Health, National Park Service, the government of D.C., veterans benefits, the National Guard, FEMA, the Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration, border security and nuclear weapons management. Congressman Hurt voted for each of these resolutions because he does not believe the American people deserve to be hurt by Congress’s failure to compromise. Harry Reid, however, refused to even bring these measures to a vote and President Obama vowed he would veto any piecemeal funding resolutions. It is truly ironic, given the Democrats’ all-or-nothing strategy and refusal to pass even the most uncontroversial funding allocations until Republicans gave them their unconditional surrender, that they accused Republicans of holding the American people hostage.
It was in this context that Congressman Hurt voted against the final “compromise” that even the New York Times affirms makes “virtually no concessions to the Republicans” after having supported every failed attempt by the House of Representatives to lighten the shutdown’s burden on millions of struggling Americans. Far from “playing politics with people’s paychecks,” as Mr. Nagurka accuses him, Congressman Hurt voted to restore the paychecks of federal workers and the millions of Americans who were waiting on money they had already been promised and were relying on. Nagurka accuses Hurt of “hyper-partisan gamesmanship designed to prevent a primary challenge from the right.” Congressman Hurt and his colleagues, however, were not the ones in front of the cameras every day telling Americans “we will not negotiate” and withholding funds for cancer patients and benefits for veterans. Mr. Nagurka’s recollection of the recent unpleasantness in Washington is fuzzy and distorted. But it isn’t so much that he is ignorant. It’s just that he knows so many things that aren’t so.
Congressman Hurt was elected to Congress by a bitterly divided electorate to a government tainted by ideological vitriol. Yet he has consistently been one of the rare voices for bipartisanship and compromise. Throughout his two terms in the House of Representatives, his legislative record has been one of bipartisan job creation. Each of his major initiatives has had a Democratic co-sponsor, including a bill that critically reforms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, another that reduces unnecessary mandates in the Dodd-Frank Act, a bill to provide relief for Fifth District farmers from stringent dust standards and a measure to allow farmers and foresters to preserve the natural resources they depend on. The first campaign I volunteered for in Virginia was Robert Hurt’s first race in 2010 against Democratic incumbent Tom Perriello. One thing I have always admired about Robert Hurt is how down-to-earth he is. While other politicians simply humor voters when they express concerns, Hurt genuinely listens. I was proud to support Hurt in his first race for Congress and in his reelection last year. Fifth District voters are fortunate to have a representative in Washington who always votes with their interests in mind and reaches across the aisle to get the job done.
Peter Finocchio is a fourth-year College student, vice chair of campaigns for the College Republicans and parliamentarian for the College Republican Federation of Virginia.
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