In the News

Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) joined House Republican leadership on day eight of the Democrat government shutdown to discuss the widespread consequences of the Democrats’ political games and the public support for the House-passed, clean continuing resolution (CR).

Click here or above to watch Whip Emmer’s remarks.

Whip Emmer: “Eight days. We are now eight days into the Democrats’ shutdown. Eight days that our troops are not getting paid. Border patrol agents are going without mission-critical funding. Federal workers are being forced to figure out how they’re going to put food on the table for their families. All because Democrats would rather hold the American people hostage to appease their radical base than to pass our clean, nonpartisan government funding bill. As of this morning, Senate Democrats have had five opportunities to get the government up and running again for the people they were elected to serve, and the vast majority of them have voted no every single time.

Their obstruction is not only a slap in the face to the hardworking Americans whose livelihoods are being put at risk due to the Democrat shutdown, it’s also a slap in the face to the constituents who fund their salaries with the expectation that they fulfill their basic, constitutional responsibilities. In my hand, I have more than a dozen pages of organizations from across the country — representing Americans from every end of the political spectrum — echoing the same message. And that message is that a government shutdown solves nothing but hurts everyone. So to our Democrat colleagues in the Senate, enough with the political grandstanding. Do the right and responsible thing by passing the House’s clean CR immediately. Americans are already hurting. People’s jobs are at stake. You can and you must end the political games and reopen the government today.”