Barrasso: The Senate Took a Major Step Forward to Reopen the Government

"The government is finally on the path to reopening. That is the right result. It provides certainty to the American people."

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Senate Majority Whip, today spoke about the progress the Senate has made to reopen the government as well as to fully fund food assistance and veterans' care programs.

Click HERE to watch Senator Barrasso's remarks.

Sen. Barrasso's remarks as delivered:

"Yesterday, the Senate took a major step forward on the path to reopening the government. The bill before us is simple. It's clean, it's bipartisan, it's a continuing resolution, and it funds the government through January. It's paired with three full-year appropriations bills. So, let me repeat that. Appropriations bills for the full next year. Now, these are bills that have already passed the Senate with bipartisan support - broad bipartisan support I would add - and they were negotiated on a bipartisan basis with the House. They're fully funded in terms of veterans' care. And this is critical, tomorrow is Veterans Day, our veterans need to know we stand behind them. It also fully funding on food assistance - SNAP and the Women, Infants, and Children. That's what we're debating here on the Floor of the United States Senate. I believe it's reasonable, it's responsible, and it's ready to go.

"Let's remember that this shutdown has caused serious pain to many, many American families. People have stood in line around the block at food banks all across the country, and that's because 42 million Americans missed their SNAP payments. Flights were delayed and canceled because control towers are understaffed, people there working are overworked. TSA agents and air traffic controllers have been working for the last six weeks without getting paid. Yesterday, there were 2,300 flight cancellations. It looks like it might be even more than that today. Yesterday was one of the worst travel days in the last two years and today may be worse.

"This shutdown has hurt our economy, and it has hurt our country. The government is finally on the path to reopening. This is the right result. This is what the American people need. They need certainty, and opening the government provides that level of certainty that the American people want, especially heading into the holidays.

"So, I want to thank President Trump. I want to thank my colleagues in the Senate on both sides of the aisle who voted to support that. You know, the President stood strong when Chuck Schumer stood here and demanded tens of billions of dollars be sent from the Federal Treasury directly to the bank accounts of health insurance companies. President Trump's leadership protected taxpayers and continues to protect the country.

"Now let's be clear about what comes next. The Senate is going to use the next few months to pass the additional appropriations bills. That will completely fund the government for a full year. There is a pressing need to strengthen our economy, to secure our border, to invest in our military, and to promote fiscal responsibility. And we have to do that after four years of high prices and an open border. That's what Republicans in this body and across the hall are fighting for. And let's be clear. Republicans are making the appropriations process work again. Last year, Senator Schumer refused to bring a single appropriations bill to the Floor, even though the Appropriations Committee passed out bipartisan - many times, unanimous - appropriations bills. Yet the Minority Leader refused to bring them to the Floor. That's no way to run the government. That's no way to run the Senate. That's not leadership.

"The debate ahead is also about the many failures of the Obama healthcare law - known as Obamacare. This is a debate that Republicans welcome. Healthcare in America is broken and is unaffordable and it broke the day they passed Obamacare. Costs have exploded. Obamacare premiums have gone up 221 percent. That's what's happened since the law passed. Recall, President Obama at the time said premiums for families would go down by $2,500. It was all wrong. Democrats have no answer for that, other than more direct subsidies directly from the federal government directly into the bank accounts of insurance companies. Republicans believe Americans deserve high quality, affordable healthcare. Americans haven't gotten that since the day Obamacare became law.

"It's time to reopen the government because Americans have waited and suffered too long."

###