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Floor Speech

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Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, America is now in the middle of the Schumer shutdown. Two in three Americans oppose it. Democrats are holding the American people hostage. They are demanding $1.5 trillion in new spending, and that is just to keep the government open for 4 short weeks. That amounts to $48 billion a day.

Here is what the Democrats are demanding. They are demanding more taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegal immigrants. At the same time, they are taking away money from vulnerable hospitals in rural communities in my State and in yours.

Under Joe Biden, Democrats opened our borders. Ten million illegal immigrants flooded across. Under Chuck Schumer, Democrats have now closed the government. They did it to give free healthcare to illegal immigrants.

Meanwhile, Democrats are demanding the repeal of $50 billion of the rural hospital fund. This has been set aside as a lifesaver for our small community hospitals. That is who this fund has been set up to help, like the one I was at last week, in Pinedale, WY.

It is our first hospital in the county, ever. The closest hospital is 85 miles away. This is a needed, vital resource in rural Wyoming.

In addition, Democrats are demanding $350 billion in permanent new spending for Biden's bonus COVID payments. They created these payments in 2021. They promised they would be temporary. They said they are there for the COVID emergency only. They extended them once so they would end at the end of this year. Clearly, COVID is over, and now they want these Biden bonus COVID payments to become permanent, to go on forever.

These payments are riddled with waste, fraud, abuse, and corruption. We have seen it. We have documented evidence.

Unlike most insurance, there are no premiums, there are no deductibles. Democrats also removed the income limit. The money goes straight from the government to the insurance companies. The bill goes directly to the hard-working American taxpayers.

The Democrats' price to reopen the government is all of those things I have mentioned, plus more.

What we are doing as Republicans is proposing to reopen the government for 7 weeks at the current funding levels. The House has already passed it. Republicans and Democrats have voted for it in the House and in the Senate. President Trump is ready to sign it.

It takes 60 votes in the Senate to reopen the government. We have voted repeatedly over the past several days. Each time, a few level- headed Democrats have joined Republicans in the vote. It is time for more Democrats to join us today.

There is only one person standing in the way, and that is the minority leader. He is holding the American people hostage. He fears retribution from the radical, socialist left. It is easy to see why. The radical socialist left--including Senator Sanders, Senator Warren, and AOC--they have become the Democrat leaders in this shutdown. They are the ones running the party.

While the government is stuck in this Schumer shutdown, the people paying the price are the American families. Veterans will face longer wait times for appointments. Members of the military and Border Patrol agents will continue to protect our Nation, but they will do it without pay. Some wildfire prevention, which is critical this time of the year, will stop. Wildland firefighters will remain on the job unpaid. Mothers will lose access to vital programs that help feed their children. Sick patients on Medicare and Medicaid may lose home healthcare services. Small business owners will not receive new Federal loans because the Small Business Administration is unable, during a shutdown, to process them.

The American people, all across this country, are feeling the pain of the Schumer shutdown. Their request is simple. They are asking Senate Democrats to do what they have done 13 times under Joe Biden--to vote for a clean continuing resolution that will reopen the government. All it takes is a few more Democrats--people who are willing to put the country first.

We are about to vote today on another clean continuing resolution, like the Democrats did 13 times when Joe Biden was in the White House, and that is the one to reopen the government. Republicans are going to vote for it.

Democrats have the opportunity today, in just a few short minutes, to do the right thing for the American people. Let's see if they do.

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