Recently, Congressman Michael Guest appeared on the Tim Young Show to discuss the ongoing government shutdown, its causes, and related political issues. During the interview, Guest explained that despite the shutdown, he and his staff continue to serve constituents in Mississippi’s Third Congressional District.“My staff has all been deemed essential and we’re working and serving the people of our district. I will tell you, before I came on today, I got to meet a guy by the name of Billy Byrd. Billy is a 100 year old World War II Veteran. He came in my office and gave me a copy of a book he had written. He was actually on the first wave of Marines that invaded Iwo Jima. He was on the island for 32 days fighting the Japanese, so got a chance got meet with a war hero. Somebody who fought for our country, somebody who served, served in combat – part of that greatest generation. While I am not in D.C. working, I am still here in the district, and I am getting to spend, at least today, some time with two great Americans.”Guest described the current government shutdown as politically motivated rather than policy-driven: “This is clearly a political shutdown. This is not over policy. The Democrats have tried to make it over policy particularly the expanding the Obamacare enhanced subsidies that will expire at the end of the year. These are policies that the Democrats put in place. These are things in which the Democrats set when these expiration dates would occur. These were supposed to be temporary in light of COVID. Now, we see that they want to make these permanent. The cost of that would be over $500 billion and so the Democrats are asking for $500 billion in new funding to keep the government open for a mere 7 weeks. You’re right, some of the healthcare they’re talking about would go to illegal aliens. And so, this is not a shutdown where they have a key issue that they really disagree with. They are just throwing a bunch of things at the wall hoping that they can make something stick. And some of it, I think much of it, is driven by Chuck Schumer and his fear of a very popular Democratic member in his district. She may not be popular in my district, but she is popular in New York- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was threatening to primary Chuck Schumer for his U.S. Senate seat.”He further argued against making enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies permanent without income limits or measures against potential misuse: “If the issue of the enhanced Obamacare subsidies is worth shutting the government down, which is what Chuck Schumer has told us, then our Republican leadership has said we’re willing to have a conversation with you about that. But what we want to do is we want to know a couple of things. We want to put some income limits on that because right now what most people don’t know is that 35% of those enhanced Obamacare subsidies go to families making more than $100,000… So we need income limits… if this is something that is so important … tell me how you are going to pay for it… Don’t say we are going to add half a trillion dollars to our national debt… tell me what programs you’re willing to cut…”Guest also criticized some House Democrats regarding their response following Charlie Kirk’s passing: “The recent resolution in light of Charlie Kirk’s passing… It was a resolution … [that] condemned political violence… more than half of Democrats either voted against it or didn’t vote for … Which is in stark contrast to every Republican who voted … So it kind of goes to show … when it actually comes to voting for [condemning violence], they’re not willing…”Congressman Michael Guest continues his congressional duties during this period.Michael Guest has represented Mississippi’s Third District since replacing Gregg Harper in 2019 and currently chairs Homeland Security’s Border Security and Enforcement Subcommittee while also serving on Appropriations Committee (source:
Michael Guest is currently serving in Congress representing Mississippi’s 3rd district…
). Born in Woodbury, New Jersey in 1970 and residing now in Brandon (
Michael Guest…was born…in 1970…lives…in Brandon.
), he holds degrees from Mississippi State University (BS) and University of Mississippi (JD) (
Guest graduated from Mississippi State University…also earned JD from University…
).
