The partial government shutdown has officially surpassed the one month mark and has no end in sight, leaving hundreds of thousands of federal workers unsure of their future as they continue to go without pay.
Recently, Lara Trump, Donald Trump’s campaign adviser and daughter-in-law, addressed the ongoing shutdown during an interview this week. She would go on to praise workers affected by it, but also would remind them that the root issue of border security is “bigger than any one person,” Newsweek reported.
Trump made the comments during an interview with Bold TV on Monday, January 21, when host Carrie Sheffield asked what she would say to the more than 800,000 employees that have gone without pay for the last month.
“We get that this is unfair to you, but this is so much bigger than any one person,” she said. “It is a little bit of pain but it’s going to be for the future of our country and their children and their grandchildren and generations after them will thank them for their sacrifice.”
Lara, who is married to the president’s son Eric Trump, acknowledged some of the struggles workers are facing — such as being unable to pay their rent — but assured them that President Trump is working hard to find a solution to a problem that “has gone on for to long and gone unaddressed.”
“I would just tell them, please stay strong, we appreciate everything that you’re sacrificing, we’re behind you and we are going to do everything that we can, I know the president is doing everything he can to resolve this quickly,” she concluded.
Lara Trump on federal workers without pay: It is a “bit of pain,” but “this is so much bigger than any one person” https://t.co/DqjSplxg6f pic.twitter.com/3eBaXpit2b
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) January 22, 2019
Many people have taken to social media to denounce the comments made by Lara, some even relating her to the French Queen Marie Antoinette.
. @LaraLeaTrump , do you have any idea what it’s like to get bills in the mail that you can’t pay? Do you know what it’s like not to visit the doctor because you can’t afford the deductible? The amount of stress that puts on a family is huge. It’s a lot more than “a bit of a pain.” https://t.co/C6DZEI1Tpb
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) January 23, 2019
Lara Trump and her “Let them eat cake” moment about federal workers who are suffering because of Trump shutdown: Unpaid Workers Are Going Through A “Little Bit Of Pain” But This Is Bigger Than Them.
— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@DeanObeidallah) January 23, 2019
The shutdown, now on day 33, began after Congress could not come up with a spending bill that would keep the government open while also including the $5.7 billion funding demanded by the president. President Trump seeks the aforementioned allotment within the spending bill, to be put towards constructing a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Over the course of the last month, the issue has turned into something of a standoff between the president and Democrats, Newsweek noted, with a number of bills passed by Democrats in the House that would reopen the government and begin paying federal employees again, just to be rejected once they reach the hands of the Republican-controlled Senate.
President Trump has said that many federal workers believe in the border wall, however a recent survey by the Government Business Council and GoveExec.com found that only about 30 percent of them were in support of it.