John Barrasso Points Finger At Schumer Over Possible Shutdown As Dems Poised To Block CR

13 hours ago

During remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) spoke about a looming government shutdown as Senate Democrats appear poised to block the GOP-written continuing resolution.

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Transcript

00:00Mr. President, come to the floor, the Minority Leader has just spoken on the floor of the

00:04United States Senate, and I would like to begin today's comments by quoting the Senator

00:12from New York. Here's a quote. Senator Schumer says,

00:19Shutting down the government over a policy difference is self-defeating.

00:27He went on to say, It accomplishes nothing but pain and suffering

00:30for the country, and it incurs an enormous political cost to the party shutting it down.

00:38When did he say those things? Well, he said them in 2019.

00:42Well they are as true today as they were then. Apparently he's forgotten those things.

00:48He's forgotten the enormous suffering to the country that is caused, and the political

00:53cost to the party shutting it down. So who would be the party shutting down the

00:58government if we shut down at midnight tomorrow night?

01:00Well, according to this morning's, and as I say, Mr. President, and you know this, I

01:03come to the floor often with a newspaper article, today's Washington Post, Democrats prepare

01:10to reject a bill to avert a shutdown. It's the Democrats who would be shutting

01:14down the government. Now that's the Washington Post, clearly someone

01:18that so often sides with the Democrats. What about the liberal New York Times?

01:24What are they saying this morning? Specter of shutdown is growing as Democrats

01:29resist funding. They resist funding the government.

01:33It is the Democrats who are doing this. And then there's a picture of Senator Schumer

01:38in today's Wall Street Journal. So we've seen the Washington Post, the New

01:42York Times, and now the Wall Street Journal. Schumer signals block of funding bill.

01:48Let me go back. It accomplishes nothing, he said, in 2019.

01:53But pain and suffering for the country, that's what the Democrats want the American people

01:58to suffer now, pain and suffering, because they don't want to fund the government.

02:04They want to shut it down. As he said, it incurs enormous political cost

02:09to the party shutting it down, and that cost should be imposed upon the party shutting

02:13it down. And the party shutting it down are the Democrats

02:16in the United States Senate. In less than 48 hours, government funding

02:22expires. And Senator Schumer and his party are on the

02:26verge of shutting down the government of the United States.

02:31The deadline is looming. The Democrats now face a crucial choice.

02:37Pass the bill that has already passed the House of Representatives, fund the government,

02:42or shut it down. There is no magical third option for the

02:48Democrats or for the country. We are on the brink of once again a Democrat

02:54shutdown of government. Why?

02:58Because they refuse to accept that President Trump and the Republicans won the election.

03:02They hate the fact. Heard a lot of talk about how we got here.

03:07Let me set the record straight, because this shutdown has been driven and directed by the

03:11Democrats. You remember, Mr. President, last year when

03:15the Democrats were in the majority, Senator Schumer was the majority leader.

03:20Joe Biden was in the White House, President. And last year, the Senate Appropriations Committee,

03:27chaired by a Democrat, passed 11 of 12 appropriations bills.

03:32Look, I'm so grateful for the work of Senator Susan Collins of Maine, Vice Chairman of that

03:37committee, worked hard and led Republican efforts to get each of those bills done on

03:43time through the committee, and they produced results.

03:48Each of the bills passed the committee, bipartisan appropriations bills, strong bipartisan support,

03:56some unanimous, and these bills were all passed last summer.

04:03Last summer. From the time they passed the final one of

04:06those bills, and let me just point out, Mr. Chairman, I have the list of them.

04:09July 11th, they passed military constructions, veterans affairs, agriculture, food, legislative

04:15branch. Unanimous, unanimous, unanimous, 27 to 0 in

04:19each of those passed the committee. July 25th, commerce, science, justice and

04:26science passed, interior passed, 28 to 1. State and foreign ops passed, and transportation,

04:32and then on August 1st, energy and water development, 28 to nothing, defense, 28 to nothing, labor,

04:39health and human services, education, financial services, all of them passed the Appropriations

04:44Committee. Done. Passed. Senator Schumer had 224 days to bring up any one of those bills

04:55on the Senate floor. He absolutely categorically refused to bring

05:00a single appropriation bill to the floor of the United States Senate when he was the majority

05:05leader even though the bills came out unanimously, and one of his own members was chairman of

05:12that committee. He ignored her. She said, take them to the floor. He refused. Refused

05:19to put a single one of those 11 appropriations bills that came out of the committee to the

05:22floor. He refused to govern, and now he wants to shut down the government. His burn-the-house

05:32attitude is what we're dealing with. Rule-or-ruin approach. It is irresponsible, and it is reckless,

05:38and he's trying to lead the entire Democrats in the Senate over the cliff and hurt the

05:42American public in the process. But the right thing to do is to keep the government open.

05:48It costs money to shut down the government, costs taxpayer dollars, and it costs even

05:52more to reopen the government. A government shutdown denies the American people services

05:58that they need, that they want, that they wait for. It forces our military and our border

06:03patrol to work without pay. Look, it's time to move on from the Democrats' failures. It's

06:09time to get this done. Time to govern. That's what the American people elected the Republicans

06:15to do. The business of the Senate will not stop because the Democrats made for TV and

06:23made for their liberal base temper tantrums. Senate Democrats want a grandstand? We're

06:31going to continue to move deliberately and decisively and continue to work to confirm

06:36more of President Trump's well-qualified nominees. So it's the choice of the Democrats on the

06:43other side, govern or grandstand. The American people are watching. You know, they watched

06:53a week or so ago, Mr. President, when the President of the United States addressed this

06:57joint session of Congress. The American people watched. What they saw was immature antics

07:03by the Democrats sitting there in the House chamber, waving their little paddles, refusing

07:09to applaud a young man with brain cancer, refusing to applaud families that have gone

07:18through great tragedy. It was juvenile. It was wrong. That's what the American people

07:24saw. People that were watching that presentation by the President of the United States saw

07:27a strong leader and saw a Democrat party in disarray acting as juveniles, and now it appears

07:39the Senate wants to do exactly the same thing by shutting down the government. The American

07:45people that watched the President address a week ago are watching today, and they know

07:50that if there is a government shutdown, as it looks like we're heading to tomorrow night,

07:54it is going to be at the deliberate direction of the Democrat party. Thank you, Mr. President.

08:03And before yielding the floor, I ask unanimous consent to waive the mandatory quorum call

08:09with respect to the Pulte nomination.

John Barrasso Points Finger At Schumer Over Possible Shutdown As Dems Poised To Block CR

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