Jasmine Crockett argues shutting down government will prevent federal job cuts: 'If we're shut down, you can't be fired'

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) argued to shut down the government on Thursday as the government funding vote in the Senate is set to take place, citing that federal workers will not get fired from their jobs as one of the reasons to shut it down.  

In a video posted to her TikTok, Crockett said, "If the government shuts down, then one of my questions is, are they allowed to still fire people?"

"In my opinion, if we're shut down, you can't be fired. And what does that mean? It does mean that people will not but it does mean that they will get their back pay. So hopefully we can stop some of the bleeding. We just saw that the Department of Education laid off 50 percent of their workforce. So I don't really understand why anybody would say ‘Oh, we gotta take the high road.’"

The lawmaker said that Senate Democrats should vote in order to stop the funding bill from going through on the Senate vote, which is expected to take place before the Friday deadline when the government will shut down. Voting against the package would then likely guarantee a government shutdown.

Crockett continued, saying that Trump is "decimating the federal government, and you're not gonna know whether or not we're gonna keep the doors open?" she added, "He literally is shutting down departments anyway."

She later called on her followers to contact their senators, and tell them to vote against the funding resolution. "So what I need y'all to do is I need y'all calling them Democrats, because I know Republicans don't do what Republicans do, but I need y'all following those Democrats and saying, 'Listen, there is no reason for you to act.'"

The lawmakers later railed against the spending cuts in the budget bill, which would lower nondefense spending by around $13 billion, but increase defense spending by $6 billion.

Earlier on Thursday, Trump said that if the government does shut down, and Democrats in the Senate vote against the bill, that they would be to blame. Reports, however, have indicated that some Democrats in the Senate are planning on voting to pass it through the Senate.