Floor Statements

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Arkansas (Mr. Cotton) and the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis).

Mr. President, reserving the right to object, this isn't lawmaking. This is a political stunt by the Democrats. The resolution they are offering is empty. It is meaningless.

Democrats shut down this government. Democrats have voted against reopening the government 13 times. Democrats are holding food assistance for 42 million Americans hostage, and they are going to do it again tomorrow. They are doing it tonight.

Democrats knew their actions threatened food assistance. They were fully aware of it. This was organized and orchestrated in Chuck Schumer's office months in advance of the shutdown. The Department of Agriculture warned the Democrats weeks ago what was going to happen. The local newspapers around the country--as a matter of fact, a newspaper in the Senator's home State of Oregon reported:

Food is the first thing to go.

The Oregon paper went on to say:

Oregonians brace for SNAP delays if federal shutdown drags

on.

And still, for 34 days, Democrats have voted time and time again to keep the government closed. If Democrats hadn't voted 13 times to shut down the government, there wouldn't be the lines we are seeing on television down and around the block at food banks and all around the country.

The Senator from Oregon talked about children, using people as pawns, as political pawns. That is exactly what the Democrat whip in the House had said. So, of course, there is going to be suffering. She said it gives them leverage. Senators in this body--Democrats--have said exactly the same thing.

The Democrats have continued to use people as pawns for political purposes, and it is wrong. It has to stop. If Democrats really wanted to help struggling families, they would stop blocking a clean continuing resolution.

The shutdown ends when Democrats end their dangerous political games. And it is a dangerous political game that even the Washington Post has pointed that out. You want to end the food assistance cliff? It is easy. Pass the clean, bipartisan continuing resolution. Democrats should vote for it immediately. Until then, the Schumer

shutdown is going to continue to hurt struggling families. Therefore, I object.

Mr. President, I come to the floor today as the minority leader Chuck Schumer leaves the floor because I saw some very interesting new polling this week about the Schumer shutdown of our government. It actually came, of all places, from CNN--not exactly a Republican-friendly outlet. Let me share what the poll shows.

Since the Schumer shutdown began, approval of Republicans in Congress is up 5 percent. By contrast, Democrats are now at their weakest and lowest position in 20 years.

The American people are clearly paying attention to the damage being wrought on the American people by the Democrats, and the American people are sick and tired of the Democrats' dangerous political games. They resent being used by Democrats as pawns, as leverage. They resent being treated as pieces on a chessboard. Millions resent having their paychecks held back; now it has been a full month.

Americans know who is to blame for the Schumer shutdown. They heard the Democrats loud and clear.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island, just this Tuesday called the shutdown ``the only lever we have.'' People are suffering. To him, it is a lever.

Senator Chris Coons of Delaware said almost the exact same thing last week to a national television audience. He said:

Frankly, this is our only moment of leverage.

He even admitted that shutdowns are, as he said, an ``unpleasant tool.'' Then he voted for the 13th time yesterday to use the tool to keep the government closed.

Food pantries in Senator Whitehouse's home State of Rhode Island are getting ``slammed.'' Democrats call that leverage. Families in Delaware are making ``backup plans,'' according to the news, just to get groceries. Democrats call that leverage. It is not leverage; it is picking pain--pain for people--for political purposes. It is using hunger as a bargaining chip. Democrats refer to it as unpleasantness.

We are now 30 days into the Schumer shutdown. It is the longest full shutdown in the history of this country. For 30 days, Democrats have chosen leverage over lives, they have chosen politics over paychecks, and they would rather fight President Trump than feed American families.

This weekend, 42 million Americans will lose food assistance. Let me say that again--42 million Americans. That is one in eight; twice as many Americans as are on the failed ObamaCare exchanges, as the minority leader was just talking about, which Democrats are still trying to prop up even though it has failed on its promise to control costs. As the headline in the New York Times on Sunday said, ObamaCare is pricey.

Democrats are putting free healthcare for illegal immigrants ahead of American families, ahead of American seniors, ahead of American veterans, ahead of American soldiers, and ahead of American workers. That is their priority--free healthcare for illegal immigrants.

We have citizens in this country, real people in real pain, and they count on food assistance to put food on the table. Now these families are living in limbo, and their balance is about to hit zero.

So what happens to them next week if the Democrats keep the government shut down, as they voted 13 times to do? And what about the week after that? Families will go hungry because Democrats keep playing this dangerous political game.

Even some Democrats are calling on the Democrat party to change course. Listen to the words of Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada. She was interviewed, actually, yesterday on CNN. She said:

I don't think federal workers should be political pawns.

She said:

I don't think we should swap the pain of some Americans for

others. I think we should be lifting all of them up and

helping them.

Senator Cortez Masto is one of the few reasonable Democrats who has been voting for a clean continuing resolution to reopen the government.

Here is the simple truth: Senate Republicans have voted 13 times on a clean, bipartisan continuing resolution to reopen the government. That is 13 votes for funding food assistance, for paying the troops, for paying Federal workers, for paying TSA agents, for paying air traffic controllers, for paying Border Patrol, for paying Capitol Police, who are here and have been working for the last month without pay. Every single time, Senator Schumer and radical Democrats have voted no--voted 13 times against funding food assistance, against paying for our troops, against paying Federal workers, against paying TSA, against paying air traffic controllers, against paying Border Patrol, and against paying the Capitol Police.

Democrats stand here and claim President Trump can fund food assistance on his own? They know what they are asking him to do is against the law.

Democrats are not, in the words of Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, ``powerless'' to fund that program--$9 billion a month. Democrats had the power 13 times to end the shutdown. They voted no 13 times. The Democrats are the ones who have the power. They are not powerless; they are unwilling to help American families.

The Senate should be funding those programs today. We tried again yesterday. It failed. The clean, bipartisan continuing resolution that is sitting right there on that desk right now could be passed if we get Democrats to vote for it. It funds SNAP. It pays our Federal workers. It pays our troops. It pays TSA agents. It pays air traffic controllers. It pays Border Patrol agents. It pays Capitol Police. It reopens the government, which is what we ought to be doing.

We need five more Democrats to say yes.

The most ironic thing about this, the hypocrisy of it all, is that Democrats had no problem voting for a clean, bipartisan continuing resolution 13 times when Joe Biden was President. What has changed? Donald Trump is in the White House. They are not happy about that, and they are not happy about anybody who voted for him. So now they are more interested in what they describe as leverage than children going hungry in this country.

It is no wonder that Republicans' approval rating has gone up, as the CNN poll shows, and that Democrats' polling has gone down during the Schumer shutdown to the lowest and weakest point in 20 years.

Enough with the politics of pain. It is time to reopen the government, and it is time to feed these vulnerable families.

I yield the floor.

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Schmitt) and the Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Wicker).

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Schmitt), and the Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Wicker).

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Schmitt) and the Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Wicker).

Mr. President, today I would like to start with a quote. Here it is:

It is time to pass a clean continuing resolution and end

this shutdown today.

It goes on to say:

No half measures, and no gamesmanship.

Those are the words from the American Federation of Government Employees--not FOX News, not the National Review, not the Wall Street Journal--no. These are the words of the American Federation of Government Employees.

Let me tell you about the organization. They are the largest union in America for Federal workers. They were proud promoters, a couple of weeks ago, of the far left's radical rally. They are a very liberal group that has sued the Trump administration now more than a dozen times in the past year. This is a group that endorsed Kamala Harris for President, and 100 percent of their 2024 campaign war chest went to Democrats.

Even my friend and colleague who is on the floor right now, Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Democratic whip, admits:

They're our friends. We take them seriously.

This labor union is one of the Democrats' biggest cheerleaders, and today they are calling out Democrats for playing politics and holding hostage the paychecks of over 800,000 Federal workers. If that doesn't push the Democrats to wake up and reopen the government, it is hard to tell what will.

We are now in day 29 of the Schumer shutdown, and Democrats have set a record for the longest full government shutdown in American history. Union after union are begging the Democrats to open the government. It is not only this American Federation of Government Employees--oh, no, it is the head of the Capitol Police union. The head of the Capitol Police union warns:

The longer the shutdown drags on, the harder it becomes for

my officers.

The President of the Teamsters Union says:

American workers are not bargaining chips. Senators should

stop screwing around and pass the House-passed clean, short

term funding bill.

The head of the National Air Traffic Controllers, their union, warns:

The message is simple: End the shutdown today.

There is no excuse--

The union leader says--

that these hardworking men and women are showing up to do

this job and to not ever know when . . . they're going to get

paid.

These are working Americans, and their paychecks are missing. And at the same time their paychecks are missing, their bills are mounting, and the stress that they are suffering is multiplying. The message is clear: Reopen the government today.

Democrats refuse to listen. Instead, they freely admit it is all about politics. They are playing a big and dangerous game of politics, and it is a politics of pain. The minority leader, Schumer, gloated--he gloated--this month to the press in a sitdown interview with Punchbowl News. He says:

Every day gets better for us.

I am not sure who the ``us'' is, but it is not the American people.

Then you have the whip in the House on the Democrat side of the aisle. What did she say? She admitted to FOX News--she said:

Of course there will be families that are going to suffer .

. . but it is one of the few leverage times we have.

That is not somebody that is serious about taking care of people and making sure we get the government open.

And even my friend and colleague Chris Coons of Delaware, just last Thursday, told a national television audience on C-SPAN:

Frankly, this is our only moment of leverage.

And he called this shutdown an ``unpleasant tool.'' He has voted 13 times to keep using this ``unpleasant tool'' to keep the government closed.

Now, those are the words of high-ranking Democrats in both the House and the Senate, and at the same time, vulnerable mothers and children are being described as leverage so that Democrats can give free healthcare to illegal immigrants. That is what they are doing: using the American people as leverage, as pawns in their big game of politics. And what are their demands? Healthcare for illegal immigrants. It is reckless; it is radical; and it is wrong.

This suffering, the unpleasantness, is going to get worse as the weeks go on

unless the Democrats vote to reopen the government. Air traffic controllers missed their first full paychecks yesterday; 1.8 million Federal workers missed their full paycheck on Friday. This includes Border Patrol agents, TSA agents. By the end of the week, 42 million Americans will lose food assistance. The Democrats call that unpleasantness.

Lines at food banks are already swelling. The New York Times reports food banks are anticipating an even greater surge in demand. What do the Democrats call that? Unpleasantness, so they can have leverage.

Families from New Hampshire to Georgia are going to go hungry because Democrats choose to close the government and refuse to open it. What do the Democrats call that? Unpleasantness.

Democrats know the President can't legally use emergency funds, to the tune of $9 billion per month, for food assistance. Democrats have an option: Vote for a clean continuing resolution and reopen the government.

Of course, the Schumer shutdown is not only a financial issue; it is also causing a crisis in national security. This past weekend, one in six air traffic controllers nationwide--in terms of the locations, the centers--were understaffed. Since Sunday, nearly 20,000 flights have been delayed.

What do the Democrats call that? Unpleasantness.

Some Democrats privately say they are not going to budge unless planes are falling out of the sky. That is their definition of unpleasantness.

Democrats continue to embrace the politics of pain. Democrats have chosen leverage over the lives of people in this country. They have chosen leverage because they want to fight Trump. They should be feeding our families. They are choosing politics over paychecks.

The American people deserve better. We are not getting it from the Democrats in this body. Senate Republicans have voted 13 times for a clean, short-term continuing resolution to reopen the government and pay every Federal worker, and 13 times Senate Democrats have voted no. Under Joe Biden, they voted 13 times for the exact same kind of clean continuing resolution. They voted yes all of those times.

Here is the math everybody in this Chamber understands. It takes 60 votes to reopen the government. Fifty-five Senators have voted to reopen the government time and time again. That means we need five more Democrats to end the shutdown.

Republicans are absolutely ready to pay our Nation's workers, to feed our Nation's families, and to reopen the government. Democrats continue to vote against this. They seem to be committed to what the House Democrat whip admits is suffering and what Senator Coons continues to call unpleasantness.

Democrats need to stop playing this dangerous game of the politics of pain. They need to reopen the government, and they need to do it today.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Ms. Lummis) and the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis).

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Mississippi (Mrs. Hyde-Smith) and the Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Wicker).

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Mississippi (Mrs. Hyde-Smith), the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Kennedy), and the Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Wicker).

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to waive the mandatory quorum calls with respect to cloture on the Pratt and LaCour, Jr., nominations.

Mr. President, today marks day 28 of the Schumer shutdown of the U.S. Government. Democrats continue to block a clean continuing resolution that would reopen the government. For them, it is a big game, and for the American people, they continue to suffer.

So listen to his own words. Listen to what Senator Schumer said, what he gloated to the press. He said:

Every day gets better for us.

I have got to wonder who the ``us'' is because it is not the American people.

Then, just last week, the Democrat whip in the House of Representatives said to the press, in an interview that was broadcast on television--proudly proclaimed, it looked like:

Of course, there will be families that are going to suffer.

. . . But it is one of the few leverage times we have.

Leverage?

The Democrats are playing the politics of pain, and the American people are the ones who are suffering. It is wrong. It is heartless. It is mean.

Leverage for what--taxpayer giveaways of healthcare, funded by the taxpayers, to illegal immigrants who stormed into this country in the last administration? Is that why they are shutting down the government?

Leverage for that? Leverage for $1.5 trillion in new spending?

Leverage so they can eliminate the one thing that we passed this summer to help our rural hospitals--$50 billion for rural hospitals, remote hospitals like those that we have all across the country? They want to get rid of that? Leverage for that?

Leverage so they can continue to suck up to the far-left, radical wing of their party they are trying to impress? That is not good for our country. It is not good for healthcare. It is not good for anything.

I am a doctor. I have practiced medicine in Wyoming for 24 years. I want Americans to have high-quality, affordable healthcare. That is what we want for American citizens, but right now, that is impossible because American healthcare is broken. The Democrats broke it. They broke it when they passed ObamaCare. The day they passed ObamaCare, they broke healthcare in America.

The headline in the Sunday New York Times proves the point in its first three words: ``ObamaCare is pricey.''

That is what they have done.

They said: Oh, we want to lower the cost of care.

They didn't. They misnamed it and put the word ``affordable'' in it, but there is nothing affordable about it. ObamaCare has been pricey from the beginning, and it is getting worse.

The Washington Post's editorial page agrees. They wrote recently:

The real problem is that the Affordable Care Act was never

actually affordable.

That is the Washington Post. They are right.

ObamaCare is a failed program. It has failed financially. The Democrats created it, and they continue to defend the failure today.

The Democrats tried to prop up ObamaCare with very juicy subsidies to try to hold down out-of-pocket costs. Then, when Joe Biden became President, the Democrats added Biden COVID bonus payments on top of all of the subsidies. These payments are an admission that ObamaCare's flaws have only gotten worse.

Democrats voted twice to make these Biden COVID bonus payments temporary. The first was scheduled to end in 2022, but they noted that ObamaCare was still failing miserably, so they extended the payments again. They extended them to the end of this year. Democrats set the expiration date. Democrats created the cliff. Democrats created what they are now referring to as a ``crisis.''

Remember, Democrats created ObamaCare, and they created these Biden COVID bonus payments, and they did it without a single Republican vote--not in the House, not in the Senate--not a single one.

These payments were always intended to be temporary--or so they claimed. Democrats' own report that they wrote back then when they passed it said they were to be applied ``during the public health emergency.''

Today, Democrats are now demanding $350 billion in permanent, new spending. Why? Because they need to prop up ObamaCare once again because it has failed. When the Democrats say ``Fix it now,'' what they are really saying is ``Prop up ObamaCare forever.'' It is wrong. COVID is over. Democrats probably didn't see the memo. Maybe they don't realize it is over. They are still trying to go after money for COVID.

Look, even after the Biden COVID bonus payments expire, the Federal Government is still going to pay for 80 percent of the average ObamaCare enrollee's premium because ObamaCare is pricey. That is what the New York Times tells us. What is expiring now is this added cash that Democrats paid insurers during the pandemic. Money didn't go to private individuals. It didn't go to the citizens. It went to the insurance companies. They won't tell you that either.

These Biden COVID bonus payments are riddled with waste, fraud, abuse, and actual corruption. Democrats removed every income limit on the subsidies, with no means testing whatsoever.

You hear Bernie Sanders come out to the floor and say: Oh, we can't do this for millionaires and billionaires.

They did it for millionaires and billionaires. They removed the upper limit. It is for anybody. The sky is the limit. No matter how much money you make, no matter what is going on in your life, you get these bonus payments for COVID through the Democrats, and they want to make it permanent. It is absolutely wrong. It is ridiculous.

In 2024, 12 million people whom they enrolled in this program got insurance that they never used. Since the subsidies flowed directly to the insurance companies from the government, the insurers pocketed tens of billions of dollars even though the enrollees did not make a single claim. How does that happen?

Let me talk about some of the waste and some of the actual fraud and manipulation that is going on, because in 29 States of our 50, more people are claiming full benefits than are eligible for those benefits in the State.

How did the Democrats allow that for the last 4 years? That is what we are trying to take a look at and are saying: Mr. President, this is wrong.

There were 6.4 million people under the Biden administration who were improperly enrolled that year, and $27 billion was paid by hard-working taxpayers for all of these people who were improperly enrolled. At least 1.6 million people were doubly enrolled--enrolled in both Medicaid and in ObamaCare--which, of course, is not allowed. It is illegal. You can't do it. Democrats allowed it to happen anyway because they don't care.

They have never shown they care. It is all a political game for them. You heard it. You heard the whip in the House say: Oh, no; this gives us leverage. You heard the minority leader here, Chuck Schumer, say that every day gets better for them. Well, it doesn't get better for the American people.

This isn't about making healthcare more affordable; this is a direct theft of taxpayer money, and it is all to prop up a program that they named after President Obama--ObamaCare--and it is a program that never worked. Healthcare costs continue to go up, and ObamaCare has failed to address that. As even the New York Times said on Sunday, ObamaCare is pricey.

So what caused those prices to go up? Well, Democrats did, of course. When the government pays any price, insurers can charge any price. It is exactly what is happening today, and now it is the American families who are paying their taxes who are paying the price.

Republicans will not allow Democrats to paper over the inadequacies of ObamaCare. We want to get to the root cause of the cost of medical care.

Democrats are protecting waste, fraud, abuse, and corruption. At the same time, Federal workers are going unpaid. Enough is enough.

Even liberal labor unions are fed up with the Democrats' politics of pain, and we have seen it. Finally, yesterday, the American Federation of Government Employees urged Democrats to join Republicans and reopen the government.

What exactly did they say?

They said:

Both political parties have made their point.

And then they went on to say:

It's time to pass a clean continuing resolution and end

this shutdown today. No half measures, and no gamesmanship.

That is from the union that has, for years and years and years, supported Democrat candidates across the board. They are saying: Do what Republicans have been saying from the beginning. Pass a clean continuing resolution.

Remember, they did it 13 times when Joe Biden was President, and now they voted against it 13 times with Donald Trump in the White House.

It is a big political game for the Democrats. It is a dangerous game, and the American people are suffering.

So are the Democrats going to listen to the union that represented and worked with the Democrats to get them elected in the first place?

Well, we are going to find out.

Let me echo what Leader Thune said: Republicans are happy to address ObamaCare's many failures, but, first, we need to reopen the government.

There are not going to be negotiations while the government is closed. We are not going to negotiate with hostage takers. We need to reopen the government and then talk about all the things that people want to talk about, because, right now, our troops and women, infants, and children in the Women, Infants, and Children Program--they shouldn't be used as leverage for Democrats to try to save their failed programs.

Air traffic controllers, TSA agents, whom I talked to yesterday coming from Wyoming to come back to Washington--they don't want to be used as pawns. They don't want to be thought of as chips on the table in a political game of leverage.

Chuck Schumer saying ``Every day gets better for us''--that is wrong. The American people deserve better.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Justice).

The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Hawley).

The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Iowa (Ms. Ernst).

Mr. President, I would like to take the opportunity to express my appreciation to James for his hard work as an intern in my Washington, DC, office. I recognize his efforts and contributions to my office, as well as to the State of Wyoming.

James is from Shillington, PA. James is currently enrolled at Susquehanna University, where he is pursuing a bachelor's degree in political science. He has demonstrated a strong work ethic, which has made him an invaluable asset to our office. The quality of his work is reflected in his great efforts over the last several months.

I want to thank James for the dedication he has shown while working for me and my staff. It is a pleasure to have him as part of our team. I know he will have continued success with all

of his future endeavors. I wish him all my best on his journey.

Mr. President, I would like to take the opportunity to express my appreciation to Patrick for his hard work as an intern in my Washington, DC, office. I recognize his efforts and contributions to my office, as well as to the State of Wyoming.

Patrick is from Jackson, WY. Patrick is currently enrolled at George Washington University, where he is pursuing a bachelor's degree in international business. He has demonstrated a strong work ethic, which has made him an invaluable asset to our office. The quality of his work is reflected in his great efforts over the last several months.

I want to thank Patrick for the dedication he has shown while working for me and my staff. It is a pleasure to have him as part of our team. I know he will have continued success with all of his future endeavors. I wish him all my best on his journey.

Mr. President, I would like to take the opportunity to express my appreciation to Edwin for his hard work as an intern in my Washington, DC, office. I recognize his efforts and contributions to my office, as well as to the State of Wyoming.

Edwin is from Lewisville, TX. Edwin is currently enrolled at the University of Texas at Dallas, where he is pursuing a bachelor's degree in neuroscience and a minor in public health. After graduation, Edwin plans on attending medical school. He has demonstrated a strong work ethic, which has made him an invaluable asset to our office. The quality of his work is reflected in his great efforts over the last several months.

I want to thank Edwin for the dedication he has shown while working for me and my staff. It is a pleasure to have him as part of our team. I know he will have continued success with all of his future endeavors. I wish him all my best on his journey.