Speaker Nancy Pelosi Nancy PelosiPelosi: Ginsburg successor must uphold commitment to 'equality, opportunity and justice for all' Bipartisan praise pours in after Ginsburg's death Pelosi orders Capitol flags at half-staff to honor Ginsburg MORE (D-Calif.) took to the House floor to highlight the "serious damage" being caused by the ongoing partial government shutdown, joining dozens of rank-and-file members in casting blame on Republicans and the administration on Thursday.



The California Democrat cited the perils federal workers face, including damage to credit scores and missed mortgage payments, arguing they are suffering both financially and psychologically as they continue to miss paychecks.



"We're doing serious damage to our country, totally unnecessarily. The president and the Republicans either do not notice or do not care about the real effects of this shutdown on real people," she said. "They say, 'oh, you'll get paid later.' Well, they have to pay their bills on time and not sometime later."

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Pelosi's comments came on the same day that two measures intended to end the partial government shutdown failed in the Senate.

The shutdown has dragged on for more than a month as hundreds of thousands of federal workers go without their paychecks.

Pelosi noted she's heard from Americans concerned about potentially losing access to food stamp benefits and subsidized housing. She also said it could be detrimental to national security.



"This week, FBI agents released a report warning of dire effects of the shutdown on nearly every aspect of their work. They write we don't have funds to get drugs and guns off the street and to prosecute the violent gang and drug traffickers," she continued.

"We aren't able to take child sexual exploitation cases to grand juries to seek indictments and warrants in order to get our most violent offenders arrested. We have no funds to pay sources that provide cybersecurity intelligence to protect the country against our foreign adversaries," she said.

The Speaker went on to blast administration officials, including Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross Wilbur Louis RossTikTok, WeChat to be banned Sunday from US app stores The Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by National Industries for the Blind - Trump seeks to flip 'Rage' narrative; Dems block COVID-19 bill Judge orders Trump administration stop 'winding down' census collection, processing efforts MORE.

Ross said earlier on Thursday he was confused why thousands of federal workers are relying on food banks during the partial government shutdown given that they can get loans backed by their guaranteed back pay.

He later tried to clarify the comments, acknowledging that federal workers are facing financial hardship.

"This Marie Antoinette attitude of 'let them eat cake' is pervasive in the administration," Pelosi said. "The president thinks, I guess, they can call their dads for money."

Pelosi also called on Republicans to break with President Trump Donald John TrumpObama calls on Senate not to fill Ginsburg's vacancy until after election Planned Parenthood: 'The fate of our rights' depends on Ginsburg replacement Progressive group to spend M in ad campaign on Supreme Court vacancy MORE in his call to provide funding for the border wall.

Democratic negotiators have repeatedly said the government needs to reopen before they are willing to discuss how to best handle securing the border.