Gillibrand vows not to vote for ‘gimmick’ partial funding

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, promised she wouldn’t vote for any piecemeal funding efforts, calling them a “gimmick.”

“It’s a tantrum, it’s a Tea Party tantrum, you either give me my way or we’re going to shut down the government,” she said. “The job of Congress is to keep government working, to keep it functioning, and I just think this is not a place for negotiation, it’s what we should be doing, it’s part of our jobs.”

Three piecemeal funding bills in the House of Representatives were defeated Tuesday that aimed to fund several specific programs; the president had promised to veto any piecemeal funding bills that reached his desk.

Gillibrand said Republicans need to sort out their problems and move forward on negotiating a full funding resolution.

“This is a fight between Republicans—between common sense Republicans and those who just want to say ‘no, it’s my way or the highway,’” she said. “That’s not the way government works, it’s not how our Constitution was designed.”