Cole on Democrat Shutdown: “The longer it goes on, the more damage will be done.”
Washington, D.C. – House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) joined C-SPAN’s Washington Journal this week to call out Democrats for their partisan obstruction as the Democrat-led government shutdown continues to inflict real harm on Americans. House Republicans have done the simple, responsible thing: passed a clean continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government open, military paychecks flowing, and vital services running. It’s a measure Senate Democrats have long championed—voting for a clean stopgap 13 times in recent years, including in March of this year, with the record showing impassioned statements warning that shutting down the government is “dangerous,” “harmful,” “hurtful,” and “wrong.” Now, in a stunning reversal, those same Senate Democrats have shut the government and rejected efforts to reopen it four times in just two weeks. As Chairman Cole warned, “The longer it goes on, the more damage will be done.” Will Senate Democrats continue to hold the government hostage next week—or finally join Republicans to end the shutdown and stand with the American people?
Watch the full interview here.
On who’s to blame for this shutdown:
"This is very much a Democratic shutdown, but it’s an inappropriate use of political power, and I don’t think it will end well for the Democrats. In the meantime, it does a lot of damage to the country that I hope they reflect on.
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"It’s just not the right thing to do. Democrats have chosen to take a hostage and punish the American people.
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"Senator Schumer is under enormous political pressure from his left wing. This time, he’s giving them what they want. They still have no clear exit strategy. They’re going to do a lot of damage. This is about Senator Schumer remaining popular in his district, avoiding a primary challenge, which has been threatened, and avoiding a leadership challenge. I don’t think you ought to hold the American people hostage, the entire country hostage, for your own political benefit, and I think that’s what’s happening right now.
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"The House has passed a clean CR. We’ve done our work and we’re waiting on the Senate. The people holding up the Senate aren’t the Republicans over there. It’s not even all the Democrats. It’s Mr. Schumer and the majority of his caucus that decided a government shutdown is better for their political interests than actually making sure Americans get the services they need and deserve."
On history repeating itself:
"Let me make a prediction as a guy who’s seen [several shutdowns]: they never end well. We shut the government down over Obamacare; it’s still there. We shut the government down over building the wall; it didn’t get built. Democrats shut the government down over DACA, and they didn’t get the reforms they wanted. This isn’t going to work, either. They’re just drawing it out for political purposes.
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"As the shutdown goes on, [Democrats] will sober up and recognize that we shouldn’t hold the day-to-day operation of the government at risk to achieve objectives that don’t relate to the normal appropriations process. Republicans and Democrats have both done that in the past, it’s never worked out, it's never gotten them to where they want to go."
On the impact of a shutdown:
"Sooner or later, I hope my friends in the Senate on the Democratic side of the aisle recognize that shutting down the government is bad for workers, it’s bad for the country, and it’s an inappropriate tool in politics. The longer it goes on, the more damage will be done.
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"The best way to avoid [RIFs] is to reopen the government. [President Trump and OMB Director Vought] have a responsibility to get us down to essential services. Let me point out, even those people deemed essential aren’t getting paid, that includes our troops in the field, that includes air traffic controllers. There are lots of folks that are working without a guaranteed paycheck.
"If Democrats are concerned about Mr. Vought, they just empowered him. The executive branch gets stronger during a government shutdown because Congress sidelines itself and isn’t doing its work. And frankly, in this case, that’s due to Democrats in the Senate."
On Democrat hypocrisy:
"This current CR is one that we asked the Democrats what they need. They said we need a clean continuing resolution, this one is, and we need a short-term duration, this one is. We gave them what they asked for, and all of a sudden, their leadership decided to drop things in the middle of negotiations that have nothing to do with appropriations. The American people are pretty smart; they’ll figure it out pretty fast. It’s the Democrats who are shutting down the government, and it’s the Senate that’s not doing its job.
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"It’s [Minority] Leader Schumer and the bulk of his caucus who are shutting down the government. I don’t think it will take the American people long to figure that out."
