Copyright Baton Rouge Advocate
“It’s so easy to solve this problem. You’ve got to give. You can’t be stubborn”. U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields sounded off on the record-breaking 36-day government shutdown at a town hall in Lafayette on Wednesday. “This is not my first shutdown,” Fields said. Fields was sworn in as the representative for Louisiana’s 6th district earlier this year, but he first served in Congress during the Clinton administration, when the Republican-led congress feuded with the president over budgetary issues. Fields said things have been drastically different this time around. “Half of my staff has been furloughed, and the other half is currently working without pay,” Fields said. “We’ve never had this problem before, because we’ve never had a shutdown this long before.” Fields has said he will not take pay during the shutdown. “Members of congress ought not to have staff go to work with no pay while they get paid to stay home,” Fields said. Fields expressed optimism that the shutdown will end soon, despite negotiations between party leaders being sparse and unfruitful so far. “I think people are fed up,” he said. The shutdown is primarily over the extension of subsidies under the Affordable Care Act that aim to keep health care premiums lower. Republican leaders have argued that the extension should not be debated during a shutdown, and that those negotiations should not take place until the government is funded. Fields argued that congressional Republicans are merely acting on behalf of the Trump administration. “Leave the White House out of this entirely,” he said. “Democrats and Republicans in the House and the Senate control the shutdown. We need to work out a compromise, and that compromise should be anywhere from a one to 10-year extension of the ACA subsidies.” Fields was sharply critical of Speaker of the House and fellow Louisianian Mike Johnson, although he stopped short of supporting a measure to declare the speakership vacant when asked by a constituent. Specifically, Fields criticized Johnson for not having sworn in representative-elect Adelita Grilava of Arizona’s 7th district. “Speaker Johnson should swear in the gentlelady from Arizona. She’s been duly elected, the vote has been certified, and there’s just no reason to deny and withhold that congressional district’s representation.” Under the current rules for the House of Representatives, a resolution requires 218 members, or a majority of the chamber's members, to sign a discharge petition in order to force a vote. Presently, a discharge petition to force a vote on releasing Jeffrey Epstein-related documents sits at 217 signatures. Speaker Johnson says he will not swear in Grijalva, who has said she will sign the petition, until a compromise on the government shutdown is reached. The petition currently has the signature of the Democratic minority, with four Republicans also lending their support. Fields was also asked questions regarding the ongoing redistricting case being heard by the Supreme Court, which if upheld could see Fields’ district redrawn substantially and threaten his chances at reelection. “I think questions are fair,” Fields said. “I do not think the lines were drawn based on race. A black person has never been elected to congress in the history of Louisiana from a majority-white district. It just hasn’t happened. I think the Supreme Court will see through it. There’s a reason why we have the Voting Rights Act,” Fields said. “If you tell me I have to run faster, I can do that. I can jump higher, but if you tell me I’ve got to be white to be a member of congress, I can’t do that. I need help from my government.” Congressional redistricting has become a hot-button issue in recent months and could come to define the upcoming 2026 midterm elections. Republican-led Texas approved a new congressional map that will likely favor Republican legislators, while voters in California overwhelmingly approved a proposal to remove their state’s non-partisan redistricting commission and allow their state’s Democratic legislature to redraw districts to favor Democratic legislators. The Louisiana case being upheld would result in a change in judicial precedent that would give state legislatures significantly more leeway in drawing districts. An appeals court had previously ruled a Louisiana congressional map with 5 majority-white districts violated the Voting Rights Act, and ultimately resulted in the creation of Fields’ current district.
