Chairman Cole on Fox News: "The Democrats, Quite Frankly, Just Are Throwing a Temper Tantrum."
Washington, D.C. – As the Democrat-led shutdown stretches on to its seventh day, House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) recently joined Fox Report Weekend to highlight Senate Democrats’ repeated obstruction of a simple, nonpartisan solution to reopen the government. For the fifth time yesterday, Democrats voted to block the House-passed clean CR, ignoring bipartisan majorities in both chambers and the will of the American people. Their reckless political games are leaving seniors, federal workers, military families, and low-income mothers and children to bear the consequences of disrupted services and impending stalled paychecks nationwide. How are those realities helping the American people?
Watch the full interview here.
On Insane Democrat Demands:
“The Democrats, quite frankly, just are throwing a temper tantrum. Look, we're willing to negotiate on these other matters, but we're not willing to shut down the government, and it's an enormous mistake.”
On Leader Jeffries’ Theatrics:
“The irresponsibility here is people shutting down the government, and unfortunately, Leader Jeffries has been a leader in doing that. Now, at this point in the discussion, he's really sort of irrelevant. I mean, the reality is the House has already passed the bill, so there's no need to be talking to a Democratic congressman about reopening the government.”
On Past Shutdowns:
“Well, in two of the three past [shutdowns], we deserve the blame, quite frankly. That was a Republican decision to shut down the government in 2013 to try and repeal Obamacare. It didn't work. Later in 2018-19, the government was partially shut down to try and force the construction of the wall. That didn't work. I can also point out Democrats in 2018 shut the government down for a few days over what's called DACA to try and force reforms in that immigration policy. That didn't work. It's not going to work [this time] either. So, I think the American people are awfully smart. They understand that certainly the House, under Republican control, has passed legislation to open the government over Mr. Jeffries' objections, and frankly, again, a majority of the United States Senate, a bipartisan majority, has voted the same way.”
On Who’s to Blame for the Shutdown:
“Historically, [Democrats have] argued we should just keep the government open and keep negotiating when we have differences. I agree with that. I'm surprised they're not living up to that right now.”
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“The real issue is in the United States Senate, and I do think there's considerable amount of communication going on there amongst senators. I certainly talked to some of my colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle that tell me they're in communication with Democrats. I don't think anybody is happy about this. But again, right now the action is in the Senate.”
On The Hurt Democrats Are Causing to the American People With A Prolonged Shutdown:
“It's costing the American people every day, as you pointed out, but it's not just the money, it's the needed services. It's also the fact that we're not paying people that we're asking to work, like our military, like our air traffic controllers, like our border security people and our law enforcement officials. All those people provide essential services. They're delivering them. We're just not fulfilling our part of the bargain, that's up to the Democrats again, they've made this decision.”
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“[Democrats are] doing something that they've condemned Republicans for doing in the past. Look, I never favored government shutdowns. I think they weren’t appropriate, but now the hypocrisy here, having denounced shutdowns repeatedly, is just breathtaking. And sooner or later, the American people figured out that particularly their concentration is getting more focused as they see, number one, people that they respect, like the military, like air traffic controllers, being forced to work without pay, and they're beginning to see the lack of services in their own lives. We may even get to the point where we're not extending help to women and children on a WIC program that helps single parents or low-income parents put food on the table. Look, those are terrible things, and all you gotta do is reopen the government, and we can talk about the other issues Democrats are concerned about.”
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