Democrats pounce after out-of-touch shutdown remarks

Trump aides set off furor with out-of-touch shutdown remarks

Democrats pounce after Wilbur Ross said he didn’t ‘really quite understand why’ unpaid federal workers are going to food banks.

By MATTHEW CHOI

One of President Donald Trump’s top aides likened the shutdown to a “vacation.” Another called it a “glitch.” And on Thursday, Democratic leaders pounced after Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said he didn’t “really quite understand why” unpaid federal workers are going to food banks.

As the government shutdown stretched into its 34th day and as roughly 800,000 federal workers are bracing for their second missed paycheck, the White House is facing an intensifying backlash over seemingly out-of-touch comments from Trump’s group of largely wealthy advisers.

The comments are also handing Democrats leverage as party leaders and Trump have failed to reach a compromise on the president’s demand for $5.7 billion in border wall funding.

One of the latest missteps came on Thursday when Ross went on CNBC to encourage federal workers to seek low-interest loans to tide them over, and appeared to minimize the shutdown’s toll on thousands of workers who live paycheck to paycheck.

"These are basically government-guaranteed loans because the government has committed, these folks will get back pay once this whole thing gets settled down," Ross said. "So there is really not a good excuse why there really should be a liquidity crisis now."

"Now true, the people might have to pay a little bit of interest, but the idea that it's paycheck or zero is not a really valid idea," he continued.

Federal employees have reported going to homeless shelters to find food for their families, but when asked on Thursday about the desperate measures, Ross replied: "Well, I know they are, and I don't really quite understand why." Ross argued with loans backed by the guaranteed back pay, federal workers should be able to find the money to carry them through the shutdown.

Regardless of the individual cost on federal employees, Ross said the shutdown won't be too damaging for the country's image or economy. "You're talking about 800,000 workers and while I feel sorry for the individuals that have hardship cases, 800,000 workers, if they never got their pay — which is not the case, they will eventually get it, but if they never got it, you're talking about a third of a percent on GDP so it's not like it's a gigantic number overall," he said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi quickly pounced on the comments, characterizing them as a "let-them-eat-cake attitude."

"He said he doesn't understand why they have to do that," Pelosi told reporters, unprompted, during a news conference. "I don't quite understand why, as hundreds of thousands of men and women are about to miss a second paycheck tomorrow."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also drew parallels between Ross and Marie Antoinette, pointing out that Ross is a billionaire while many federal employees live paycheck to paycheck. "Those comments are appalling and reveal the administration's callous indifference towards the federal workers it is treating as pawns," Schumer said. "Secretary Ross, they just can't call their stockbroker and ask them to sell some of their shares."

Even Trump distanced himself from Ross's comments, saying Thursday afternoon, "I haven't heard the statement, but I do understand that perhaps he should've said it differently." Still, Trump praised Ross's performance and suggested the commerce secretary was merely implying mortgage lenders and grocers in the same communities as federal workers would help them "work along."

Ross also tried to backpedal on his tone Thursday afternoon, telling Bloomberg TV that he and the rest of the administration are aware of the hardships federal workers face, and that he was merely trying to "make sure that they’re aware that there are possible other things that could help somewhat mitigate their problems."

Other Trump officials have also received backlash for comments that seemed out of step with the thousands of federal workers who have burned through the savings.

Kevin Hassett, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, got flak after appearing to compare the shutdown to a vacation, saying it could leave workers "better off" because they will receive back pay and many aren't having to report to work. Hassett later said his words were taken out of context.

Lara Trump, an adviser and daughter-in-law to the president, was criticized earlier this week after saying the shutdown was necessary to get strong border security.

“Listen, this is, it’s not fair to you, and we all get that," she told Bold TV when asked what she would say to furloughed workers. "But this is so much bigger than any one person."

And Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, told reporters at the White House on Thursday that the shutdown was a "glitch" and that the economy would bounce back the "nanosecond" the government reopened. Kudlow also praised "essential" federal employees going without pay for "working for free" and "volunteering."

When a reporter pressed Kudlow on his choice of the word "volunteering," Kudlow snapped back, "You know what I'm saying."

President Trump has also generated controversy by saying earlier this month that he "can relate" to government workers who are working without pay, but added without evidence that most federal employees support his fight for funding the border wall.

Federal workers are becoming increasingly frustrated with Washington's standoff. A group of workers staged a sit-in outside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's office on Wednesday demanding an end to the shutdown. On Thursday, a report showed that the number of federal employees filing for unemployment more than doubled in the second week of January, and increased by more than 1,300 percent from the same period last year.

Some of the president's allies have started privately worrying that the seemingly callous comments reinforce the perception that the president and his team of wealthy advisers are out of touch with the public.

"Although prioritizing things like a border wall may make sense in the abstract as a policy determination, it gives the impression of not caring about the day-to-day lives of those impacted by the shutdown," a former senior White House official said.

The partial government shutdown is persisting as Trump and Democrats in Congress battle over funding the wall with Mexico. The fight has reached unprecedented levels of political theater, with Pelosi delaying the State of the Union address and no resolution in sight.

Trump, who gave in to Pelosi's request to delay his State of the Union, lightly jabbed at her Thursday morning after she seized on Ross's comments.

"Nancy just said she 'just doesn’t understand why?' Very simply, without a Wall it all doesn’t work. Our Country has a chance to greatly reduce Crime, Human Trafficking, Gangs and Drugs. Should have been done for decades. We will not Cave!" he tweeted.

Brittany Holder, communications director at the National Federation of Federal Employees, called Ross's comments "insulting" to federal workers, saying her organization feels Ross is out of touch with the everyday challenges of working people. Holder noted mortgage payments for many workers are coming up in about a week and that loans carry interest that can be challenging to manage even with back pay.

"It's insulting and unrealistic [to assume] that 800,000 federal employees should just be out here applying for loans," Holder said. "Is he going to be paying the interest that we're going to have to pay back?"

Holder also said that federal employees are occupied with the day-to-day expenses they have to scrape together — from feeding their families to putting gas in their cars — rather than the overall macroeconomic health of the country. She said with fewer federal workers going out for food and coffee or taking Ubers, she's met private-sector workers also reeling from the shutdown with less business.

"It has an impact on everybody," she said.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association also took issue with Ross's comments about their workers. Transportation Security Administration officers and air traffic controllers are working without pay, and many TSA officers are calling in sick in record numbers to find alternative ways to pay their bills.

Ross said he was concerned about the safety risks the shutdown has created, but put the responsibility on the employees themselves.

"It's kind of disappointing that the air traffic controllers are calling in sick in pretty large numbers," he said.

Doug Church, spokesman for the NATCA, said his organization is in daily contact with air traffic facilities across the country and denied air traffic controllers have been calling in sick in greater numbers. He added most facilities are actually showing lower rates of sick leave.