Recchia blasts Grimm for voting to defund Obamacare

September 23, 2013 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle

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Councilman Domenic Recchia, who has already declared his intention to run against US Rep. Michael Grimm for congress, even though the incumbent isn’t up for re-election until next year, is already talking as if the contest is taking place in this election cycle.

On Sept. 20, Recchia sent out a blistering email criticizing Grimm’s vote that day in the House to defund the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare. Grimm (R-C-Bay Ridge-Dyker Heights-Staten Island) voted with his fellow House Republicans in favor of a continuing resolution to keep the government running, a bill that included the provision defunding President Barack Obama’s signature legislation.

The House voted 230 to 189, largely along party lines, for the stopgap measure to keep the federal government funded through mid-December.

Recchia, who currently serves as a councilman representing Coney Island, Gravesend and parts of Bensonhurst, charged that the bill would make a government shutdown more likely because it defunds the Affordable Care Act.

“Today we saw Michael Grimm and a dysfunctional Congress at its worst as they voted to hold the U.S. government hostage, threatening a shutdown unless the Tea Party has its demands met,” said Recchia, who noted that defunding Obamacare is a key goal of the Tea Party.

“Rather than putting forward a budget proposal that demonstrates statesmanship, dedication to the middle class, and a balanced solutions-based foundation to government, Michael Grimm and House Republicans chose to play ideological party politics with our economy,” Recchia said.

“While everyone from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to the Wall Street Journal has warned that this strategy is bad for the country, Michael Grimm and House Republicans continue to indulge their extremist base with legislation that ignores what’s best for the American people,” Recchia said.

Grimm replied to Recchia’s comments with a few choice words of his own for his presumptive 2014 opponent.

“It is no surprise that a political hack is taking the exact talking points of the DCCC instead of coming up with an original thought,” Grimm said. The DCCC is the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Grimm also hinted that Recchia, who chairs the council’s Finance Committee and who over the past few months has been awarding city funding for projects on Staten Island, is a Johnny-come-lately. “He truly is the proverbial politician – taking millions of dollars from his own district in Brooklyn and sprinkling them around Staten Island, only to try to buy votes for a seat in office. He clearly has no shame,” Grimm said.

“Of course Democrats would want us to do whatever they asked, but why would need a Republican Party if we’re just going to acquiesce without pushing back and taking a stand for the policies we believe in?” Grimm asked.

Grimm’s spokeswoman, Carol Danko, told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle on Monday that the congressman does not support a government shutdown. “If the government were to shut down it would be detrimental to our seniors, veterans, and military,” she said.