WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) today spoke about the prolonged pain of the Democrat Shutdown of American Security.
Click HERE to watch Senator Barrasso’s remarks.
Sen. Barrasso’s remarks:
“I come to the Floor today after hearing the Minority Leader talk about the ongoing problem that the country is seeing before their very eyes, which is the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security caused by the Democrats.
“Republicans have continually come to the Floor to vote to open the Department of Homeland Security. And working with the Democrats, there have been a number of proposals, one of which the Democrats actually agreed to the other day. And yet today on the Floor, the Senate Minority Leader said, oh, no, that is just ‘poppycock.’ That was his word.
“The Democrats have continued to move the goalposts over all of this time where we’re talking about the importance of funding the Department of Homeland Security. A Department that was set up after 9/11 to deal comprehensively with our nation’s security. There’s issues of border security, cybersecurity, flight security, the TSA is part of that.
“This has gotten so bad. I saw in the news this morning that there are members of the Department of Homeland Security who are not getting paid, who are working every day, and who are now donating their plasma. But not donating but giving it to get paid. That’s what the Democrats are doing. Talk about getting blood out of it. That’s what the Democrats are doing. Blood is on their hands, and we are seeing this today with the unfunding of the Department of Homeland Security.
“Americans are rising up to say to the Democrats, ‘We care about these people that are working and not getting paid.’ My own Rotary Club in Casper, Wyoming, came out today with an email to all the Rotarians. One of the members of the club has offered a matching donation of up to $2,000 for supplies and gift cards to be donated to TSA employees at the airport.
“Now, these people have been working without pay because the Democrats shut down the Department of Homeland Security. It says, ‘Please consider supporting the local TSA personnel and help secure the matching donation by donating supplies or gift cards.’
“It goes on to say, ‘Currently there are approximately 40 TSA employees in Casper who are not being paid. The airport is collecting food and other supplies: dog food, cat food, toilet paper, etc.’ Because of what we’re facing here and with an offer we made, and Democrats are now saying, well, it’s all ‘poppycock.’ They don’t seem to care.
“It goes on to say, ‘The employees cannot accept cash, cannot accept cash-equivalent cards like Visa gift cards. However, they can accept gas cards and gift cards to places like Wal-Mart or Target which gives them the flexibility to purchase what they truly need.’
“This is what we’re seeing here in this chamber with what the Democrats are doing because they do not want to fund the Department of Homeland Security that keeps our nation safe.
“Well, there is now circulating – it is evident, and Republicans have all seen –which is a Democrat member of the Senate on television telling the nation – this is a clip – this is a Democrat – ‘the people we care most about,’ he says, ‘are the undocumented.’ Not these people who are working every day. The people that Democrats care most about are the undocumented, the illegal immigrants, the people who are not citizens of this country, but who are here and have been unleashed into this country. Ten million or more during the Biden administration.
“And that is what we are talking about here today on the Floor, and why we will be voting later today, on the proposal that the Republicans have made that the Democrats agreed to two days ago. But now they’ve withdrawn their support, because as we hear from a Democrat spokesman and a Democrat Senator, ‘the people they care most about’ are not the citizens of the United States. They’re the undocumented, the illegal immigrants who are here among us today.”
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