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Schumer and Pelosi: Wilbur Ross Shutdown Comments 21st Century Equivalent to ‘Let Them Eat Cake’

“They just can’t call their stockbroker and ask them to sell some of their shares,” Schumer said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) both rebuked the Trump administration on Thursday for Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’ apparent lack of empathy for unpaid federal workers who are suffering during the shutdown. When he was told that some government employees are going to homeless shelters because they have no other means of feeding themselves, Ross said, “I don’t really quite understand why, because as I mentioned before, the obligations they would take in borrowing from a bank or credit union are in effect federally guaranteed.” In response, Pelosi and Schumer both compared the comment to the oft-referenced French saying: “Let them eat cake.” Schumer also said the comments “reveal the administration’s callous indifference toward the federal workers it is treating as pawns.” He added, “Secretary Ross, they just can’t call their stock broker and ask them to sell some of their shares.”

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Olivia Messer

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