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Floor Speech
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Mr. BARRASSO. 168, H.R. 5371; Executive Calendar No. 460.
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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, today is day 16 of the Schumer shutdown. Democrats have an opportunity to end the charade today. We will be voting in the next few moments.
I expect they won't. Why? Well, for starters, the minority leader believes ``every day gets better for us.'' I am not sure who the ``us'' is, but that is what he believes. He must be talking about Democrat leadership, Democrat politicians. He can't be talking about people all across the country--not the people who work every day to keep our country safe, not the Federal workers who aren't getting paid. Oh, no, he can't be talking about them when he refers to ``every day gets better for us.''
What Senator Schumer and Democrats in this body are really saying is this: Every day of this Schumer shutdown strengthens their alliances with the far-left activist groups. These radicals hold the reins on today's Democratic Party. They are driving the stage coach. Schumer is not leading this. Jeffries isn't leading this. The people that are driving the stage coach are the leftwing activists, and they are driving it over the cliff.
Let me give you another reason why I suspect Democrats will, once again, refuse to reopen the government. It is because the far-left activist groups are pressuring the Democrats to keep the government closed until after their radical anti-America rally, which is going to be held this weekend.
The rally, which some have labeled the ``I Hate America'' rally, is going to take place Saturday, and there will be rallies in DC and across the country. We just heard from the minority leader on the floor, inviting people to attend these rallies, to participate in what I have referred to and others have as the ``I Hate America'' rally. He is a cheerleader for these far-left activist groups and their causes. All these rallies are going to be led by the far-left activists and all will be calling on the Democrats to keep the government closed.
The Democrats in this body are beholden to every single one of these far-left activist groups, groups like #ResistTrump and American Atheists.
Here is a headline from POLITICO:
Chuck Schumer's critics are satisfied--for now.
The article goes on to quote the head of the far-left activist group called Indivisible. This group is organizing Saturday's radical rally. The leader of the far-left group says of the minority leader:
He hasn't surrendered yet. I call that progress, and we're cheering him on now.
Well, 7 months ago, that same person had a very different message for the minority leader. That same person said:
Senator Schumer should step aside as leader. Every Democrat in the Senate should call for him to do so.
So what changed? Well, Senator Schumer started toeing the line of the far-left group. He shut down the government in spite of the fact that 13 times, when Joe Biden was President, he voted for a clean resolution to keep the government open.
What changed? Well, the minority leader is now the puppet of the radical, extremely dangerous, scary wing of his party. He huddled with the far-left activist group for months before this shutdown. For months, they orchestrated, organized this shutdown in Senator Schumer's office. They organized a war room for the shutdown. They are calling the tune. Senator Schumer even gloated to Punchbowl News:
We thought about this long in advance.
This isn't something that just happened. They had been planning this. This is premeditated. This is a political game for Senator Schumer and the Democrats, and it is a dangerous game for every other American.
People aren't receiving paychecks because Senate Democrats want to prove their allegiance to the far left. Democrats want a standing ovation this Saturday when they address the radical wing of their party; the wing that is holding the reins and holding them tightly; the wing that is extreme, dangerous, and scary; the wing that is pro-crime and anti-America. That is what we are facing.
Senate Democrats want to be cheered on for holding hostage the paychecks of the TSA agents and air traffic controllers.
Meanwhile, Americans are sick and tired of Democrats' dangerous political game. They just want to get back to work. Today, Democrats are going to have an opportunity to prove they aren't beholden to the far left of the party. We are going to have a vote. We are going to vote on a bipartisan appropriations bill to fund the Department of Defense, to fund the warfighters, the troops, the people who keep our Nation and our allies safe. This bill has already come through a bipartisan Appropriations Committee. The vote was 26 to 3. Twenty-six voted for it, only 3 voted against it. We are bringing that same bill to the floor today, and we are going to see if the Democrats are going to work with us on a bipartisan appropriations bill. They claim they want regular order. They claim they want things to work together. And it is a bill that they have said themselves is necessary.
Remember, Senator Schumer, last year, didn't bring a single appropriations bill to this floor of the Senate, in spite of the fact the 12 bipartisan bills passed out of the committee. He refused to bring any of them to this floor to fund the government when he was majority leader.
I wonder whom he is going to side with today. Senate Republicans this year already approved three appropriations bills to fund the government. This would be the fourth. Democrats are holding the government hostage. They are holding the American people hostage. Republicans are committed to reopening the government.
We are going to vote against that today. We are holding votes on our bipartisan, clean continuing resolution, one that Democrats have voted on 13 times in favor of when Joe Biden was in the White House.
I believe that Democrats have an opportunity, as well as an obligation, to end the Schumer shutdown. We should end it today.
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Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy), the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis), and the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Tuberville).
Further, if present and voting: the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis) would have voted ``yea.''
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