Senator Collins: Government Shutdowns are Never Justified, and Today I’m Pleased That There is Real Progress
“This shutdown, the longest in our nation’s history, has caused real harm to 800,000 federal employees and their families.”
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Washington, D.C. –U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), who has long opposed shutdowns and whose top priority has been to reopen the government, spoke from the Senate floor today to applaud the reopening of government.
“Government shutdowns are never justified, and I have opposed every one of them. This shutdown, the longest in our nation’s history, has caused real harm to 800,000 federal employees and their families. Just today, I heard from a federal employee in Belfast, Maine, who has worked for 32 years for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He has two children with Type 1 diabetes and with the soaring cost of insulin, he was beginning to worry about how he would be able to afford insulin for his children. He was concerned that a prolonged shutdown would have an adverse impact on his insurance coverage.
“The shutdown has also hurt Americans’ access to federal agencies and threatened housing assistance for low-income families, our seniors, and people with disabilities. It has harmed small businesses that have contracts with federal agencies for certain services and yet are not getting paid and thus their employees are at risk of getting laid off. And that is why I voted twice this week to end the shutdown and reopen government. Although neither proposal received enough votes to pass, we saw glimmers of hope that have produced results. I would note that after the failed votes, a bipartisan group of 16 senators came to the floor and each one of us indicated a willingness to compromise. And today, I am pleased that there is real progress. The President and Senate Republicans and Democrats have come together and agreed to reopen government until February 15, while negotiations on border security issues continue.
“Let each of us on the Democratic side of the aisle, the Republican side of the aisle, and in the Administration pledge that we will negotiate in good faith. That we will work to hammer out a compromise on border security so that we are not facing the same situation again on February 15th. I for one will keep working with my colleagues and with the White House to ensure that hundreds of thousands of hardworking, patriotic public servants stay on the job; that this is not just a temporary reprieve that will allow back pay to be made to them as early as the beginning of next week, but rather that it will lead to a permanent solution so that we can reopen government beyond February 15, through the end of the fiscal year, that is until September 30, and that in the future, we can avoid ever, ever resorting to the shutdown of government again. It is never good policy. So let us work together over the next three weeks, come up with a compromise on border security, and show the American people that we can govern effectively.
Yesterday, Senator Collins voted in support of both proposals to reopen government:
- The first—a Republican plan to reopen government for the remainder of the fiscal year, strengthen border security, provide disaster relief and humanitarian assistance, and change immigration rules—failed to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to advance (50-47).
- The second—a Democratic plan to reopen government until February 8th and provide disaster relief—also failed to reach the required 60-vote threshold (52-44).
Following the failed votes, Senator Collins joined a bipartisan group of more than a dozen Senators speaking on the Senate floor regarding the urgent need for all sides to come together to end the partial government shutdown.
Senator Collins was joined by Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD), Mark Warner (D-VA), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Chris Coons (D-DE), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Angus King (I-ME), Rob Portman (R-OH), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Cory Gardner (R-CO), and Martha McSally (R-AZ) on the Senate floor yesterday.
Earlier this week, Senator Collins spoke from the Senate floor about the harm the shutdown is causing and her efforts to mitigate the impacts. She urged her colleagues to join her in working to reopen government as quickly as possible.
