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Former New York Yankees star Mark Teixeira took a swing at Democrats before the U.S. Senate failed to pass a bill that would have avoided a government shutdown.
Teixeira, who is running for Congress in Texas, responded on social media to a warning from House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, who said on Fox News Channel on Monday that Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, and the Democratic Party were planning to shut the government down to “appease their far-left base.”
The World Series champion suggested he had enough.
“This is exactly why I’m running,” Teixeira wrote on X on Tuesday. “Democrats are destroying our country, and President Trump needs reinforcements who will fight to take our country back.”
Hours after Teixeira’s post, the government funding bill failed to get through the Senate. The bill, which would have given Congress until Nov. 21 to set FY 2026 funding priorities, passed the House largely along party lines on Sept. 19. The Senate is expected to vote on the same bill again on Wednesday, with more votes to come through the rest of the week and into the weekend until either a deal is struck or Democrats relent.
President Donald Trump told reporters earlier in the day that Republicans did not want a shutdown, but warned the GOP could inflict pain on Democrats should the government close.
“We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them and irreversible by them, like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like,” Trump said in reference to the Office of Management and Budget’s memo about mass layoffs.
Schumer, the Senate minority leader, responded to Trump during a press conference on Tuesday, “Well, there it is. Trump admitted himself that he is using Americans as political pawns. He is admitting that he is doing the firing of people. If God forbid it happens, he’s using Americans as pawns.”
“As I said, Democrats did not want a shutdown. We stand ready to work with Republicans to find a bipartisan compromise, and the ball is in their court,” Schumer said.
Teixeira launched his campaign for Texas’ 21st Congressional District in August. It followed Rep. Chip Roy’s decision to not seek reelection.
Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind and Alex Miller contributed to this report.
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