Washington, D.C. – Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet today spoke on the Senate floor, calling on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring House-passed bills to reopen the government—which have received Senate Republican support—to the floor for a vote.
Bennet drew a contrast between the stagnation of President Trump’s shutdown and the progress other countries have achieved in the last 24 days.
“No other advanced country in the world shuts its government down for politics,” Bennet said. “While we were shut down, other countries were actually investing in their futures…Do you think the Chinese are not observing what we’re doing while they’re putting a space ship on the dark side of the moon for the first time in human history?”
Bennet addressed President Trump’s use of the border wall—a campaign promise for which he guaranteed Mexico would pay—as a political tool that is harming hundreds of thousands of federal workers. He concluded his speech by calling on the Senate Majority Leader to end the shutdown, and calling on lawmakers to put aside their differences and come to a solution for the good of the next generation of Americans.
“We can’t wait for the President…We have to do our work as senators. We have to vote to reopen the government. If that were put on the floor tomorrow, it would pass,” Bennet said.
“We should come together in this chamber and set an example for the American people and say: ‘All is not lost. This exercise in a democratic republic is going to live to fight another day.’”
The video of Bennet’s remarks is available to watch on YOUTUBE and DOWNLOAD.