Unreal. He’s a monster.
The Catholic priests need to come out and challenge this. It’s not enough that Obama is strategically punishing each and every American civilian, he’s going after our troops, too.
Obama took the time to make sure Camp David stays open during the shutdown and he had time to pose for a portrait on the third day of the shutdown. Meanwhile, Sunday is near and the military has no priests to perform Sunday service or hear confessions. In an Op-Ed piece by John Schlageter, the general counsel for the Archdiocese for the Military Services USA, said:
“With the government shutdown, many GS and contract priests who minister to Catholics on military bases worldwide are not permitted to work – not even to volunteer. During the shutdown, it is illegal for them to minister on base and they risk being arrested if they attempt to do so.”
Daily Caller added:
Because of the lack of active-duty Catholic chaplains, the military relies on hiring civilian priests to serve as government service and contract ministers. Those civilian priests are not allowed on the bases during a shutdown, Schlageter wrote.
One Republican lawmaker on the House Intelligence Committee told The Daily Caller on Friday that this “crosses a constitutional line.”
“The constitutional rights of those who put their lives on the line for this nation do not end with a government slowdown,” Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo, a graduate of West Point and an Army veteran, said in a Friday statement. ”It is completely irresponsible for the president to turn his back on every American’s First Amendment rights by furloughing military contract clergy.”
Added Pompeo: “The President’s strategy during the slowdown, just as during the sequestration, is to create as much pain as possible. However, this action crosses a constitutional line of obstructing every U.S. service member’s ability to practice his or her religion.”
Rep. Eric Cantor tweeted on Friday: “The House will vote tomorrow morning to affirm the right of all military chaplains to conduct services during the shutdown.”
