‘Democrats Own This Government Shutdown,’ GOP Senators Say

Republican senators are condemning their Democrat colleagues for failing to agree on funding the government and upending the lives of Americans with the subsequent federal government shutdown.

The decision will lead to many federal workers being furloughed without pay, including military personnel.

“Unfortunately, hardworking Americans and millions of federal employees are left to pay the price for their politics,” Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told The Daily Signal.

The shutdown went into effect Wednesday after 43 Senate Democrats voted against the Republicans’ continuing resolution to keep the government funded for several more weeks while Congress hammers out a more permanent spending consensus. 

Democrats are currently in the minority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, meaning that their leverage in Congress is limited. Lankford emphasized that he thought their refusal to play ball was a giveaway to their radical left-wing base.

“Democrats own this government shutdown. Democrats even voted against simply keeping the government open at the current level while we negotiate. They wanted the shutdown to show their political base that they are ‘the resistance’ against President Trump,” Lankford said.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., concurred, telling The Daily Signal that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “is deliberately shutting down the government because his progressive base hates President Trump and wants to spend an extra $1.5 trillion on left-leaning demands.”

The Wyoming senator also noted that passing continuing resolutions are a norm in the upper chamber with Democrats signing on board to them in the past.

“Chuck Schumer and his Democrat colleagues could have easily prevented a government shutdown by voting for a clean, bipartisan continuing resolution that had already passed the U.S. House of Representatives—the exact same bill Democrats all supported 13 times when Democrats controlled the majority,” Lummis said. 

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, highlighted in his comment to The Daily Signal that Democrats were supporting federal benefits for noncitizens. 

“Sen. Schumer and the Democrats have made it clear that they intend to shut down the federal government. Their demands include taxpayer-funded health care for illegal aliens and a reversal of the Republican reforms blocking handouts to able-bodied adults who refuse to work,” the Texas senator explained. 

“Americans voted for change under President Trump and a Republican Congress. We should not allow the Democrats’ efforts to succeed,” Cruz continued.

 Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., noted that American citizens would be the ones to suffer during the shutdown and emphasized that military personnel would be denied pay for its duration.

“Instead of voting to keep the government open and protect services their constituents rely on, Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats prefer to make Americans suffer to score political points. These major health care policy changes Senate Democrats are demanding should be negotiated through the legislative process, not a short-term continuing resolution,” he said.

“Their wish list of demands is not serious and is an act of extortion at the expense of troops, Border Patrol agents, farmers, and the very Americans we represent. The Schumer Shutdown was caused by Democrats, and Democrats alone. I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle can come to their senses, put their partisan games aside, and pass a clean continuing resolution funding the government,” Cramer told The Daily Signal.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, noted that federal employees furloughed would ultimately be getting paid to not work since they are entitled to back pay once the shutdown ends.

“The Schumer Shutdown will cost taxpayers $400 million each day to pay federal employees not to work,” the Iowa senator told The Daily Signal. 

“To add insult to injury, Democrats are holding government services and the service members’ wages hostage to fight for taxpayer-funded health care for illegal immigrants. I am sick and tired of Democrats playing political games and putting the American people last,” she said, adding:

It is time for the nonessential employee of the year, Chuck Schumer, to stop the petty partisanship and fund the government.

Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, pointed out the double standard that Congress was not doing its job while residents of his state were doing theirs. 

“I’ll work with my colleagues to reopen the government as quickly as possible. But Republicans can’t do it alone—and it’s past time for the Democrats to join us and do what’s right. Ohioans get up and go to work every day, and they get the job done. Congress should do the same. We should get our job done and reopen the government,” Husted told The Daily Signal.

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