In the News

Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) joined House Republican leadership on day 14 of the Democrat government shutdown to contrast President Trump’s historic achievements at home and abroad to the Democrats’ failure to do their jobs and reopen the government.

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

Whip Emmer: “As the Speaker noted, today should be a day of celebration. President Trump achieved a historic peace deal in the Middle East. The last living hostages held in captivity by Hamas have been…reunited with their families. Yet, we’re all here today marking day 14 of the Democrat shutdown. And, to make matters even worse, if the Democrats had things their way, this would also mark the first week that our troops would not receive their paychecks. But thanks to the leadership of our Commander in Chief, President Trump, members of the military and their families will not be used as pawns in Chuck Schumer’s shutdown game. Come tomorrow, our troops will get paid. But the consequences of the Democrat shutdown are real – and unfortunately, they’re only just getting started. OMB has already been forced to lay off its first round of federal workers. It doesn’t have to be this way. Chuck Schumer, if you open the government today, this would end. If the Democrat shutdown continues though, more Americans won’t see a paycheck at the end of this month. Benefits like SNAP will be put at risk. Airports will be flooded with flight cancellations and delays amid the busiest time to travel all year, and the list goes on and on. Why? Because Chuck Schumer and the Democrats would rather cater to the pro-terrorist wing of their party than to reopen our government. We’ve said it from this podium it feels like a million times, and we’ll say it again: Republicans have done our job. We have a nonpartisan, clean CR ready in the Senate to be sent to President Trump’s desk immediately, tonight, if they will pass it. We only need five Senate Democrats to break ranks with Chuck Schumer, vote for the same CR that they supported just six months ago, and reopen the government for the people they were elected to serve. But they have refused to do so seven times and counting. And each time that they do, hardworking Americans are forced to pay the price. Our message to Senate Democrats today is the same message we’ve been saying since September 19th: Stop the political games, pass our clean CR, and reopen the government today.”