“COULD HAVE SHUT BORDER, CUT DEBT, LIMITED WARS”

PARMA (Sat.) March 23 - - Dennis J. Kucinich, independent candidate for Congress in Ohio’s 7th Congressional District issued the following statement following Rep. Max Miller’s YES vote yesterday on the $1.2 trillion spending bill. Kucinich said, “This legislation was designed so the American people would not know what was in the bill.  I doubt that Rep. Miller even read the bill.” 

“Mr. Miller was ensnared in the oldest inside-the-beltway trap: ‘Vote for this or else the government shuts down.’  That false choice was promoted by the politically cunning and accepted by the politically naïve.  This is what the swamp does to the weak to get them to vote against the interests of the American people.  If Congress wanted to address even a few of the economic and security concerns of the people, this was the time to do it.  Instead we get six months of more uniparty status quo.

“Rep. Miller could have used his vote as leverage to shut down the border, to cut the debt and to limit spending for more wars.  Instead, he forgot the concerns of the people of the 7th District, failed to close the border, added to the debt and provided more money for which will be used for more war,” Kucinich said.    

“Additionally, he issued a video  in which Rep. Miller said:  “If you shut down the government you don’t shut down the border." 

"So, a shutdown would open the border?  Perhaps Rep. Miller is unaware, but last year, more than 2.4 million people migrated to the southern border.  As Rep. Chip Roy said in debate on the bill, '…when you fund the lawlessness, you fund the open border….' " 

"Rep. Miller gave away his vote at a time when he could have stood up for the concerns of the people of the 7th District, concerns about the border, debt and war which are shared by all Americans.  His weak explanation of his vote for $1.2 trillion in spending is a clear demonstration that he lacked the strength to take a stand, that he has no ability to negotiate on behalf of the people of the 7th District, and, as a result, hard-working Americans end up footing the bill. 

"The 7th District needs an experienced statesman.  I’m running to return to Congress as an independent, to leverage my vote to empower the people, to put Country above party, to protect America and to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse," Kucinich concluded.

If elected, Kucinich could become the only independent in a closely divided House where today a one-vote margin separates the two parties.