Delegates quiet as shutdown takes effect

As midnight came and went on the East Coast, bringing with it the third government shutdown of the year, federal delegates from Washington and North Idaho stayed largely quiet.

The exception was Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who took to Twitter several times over the course of the day to lambast the shutdown and pin its blame squarely on Republicans and the president.

“The Senate passed a bipartisan bill to keep the government open through the holidays & into the beginning of next year,” she wrote around 11:30 a.m. “Pres Trump had a temper tantrum & now we’re headed toward a completely unnecessary shutdown. This is truly absurd & no way for a country like ours to be run.”

A spokesman for Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., said earlier this week that the congresswoman wanted to avoid a shutdown “at all costs.”

McMorris Rodgers released a statement Saturday calling the shutdown “avoidable.”

“The House passed a bill to fund the government that the president would sign that prioritized securing our border,” she said in the statement. “Democrats should now negotiate i9n earnest to finda a solution to secure our border and fund our government, a priority of the American people and a responsibility of Congress.”