‘Common Sense and Bipartisanship Won’
‘Now serious negotiations can resume on key issues such as immigration and border security, disaster relief, health care, and providing adequate levels of defense spending to support the new National Defense strategy - just to name a few.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding the end of the government shutdown and restarting negotiations on critical issues:
“Now, on another matter we might call today ‘the first day of the rest of the 115th Congress.’ Yesterday, an overwhelming bipartisan majority of Senators voted to end a filibuster of government funding and conclude a short-lived shutdown of the federal government. This regrettable episode reminded all of us that, in United States Senate, brinksmanship and hostage-taking simply do not work. The only path to meaningful progress is the hard work of crafting legislation and persuading colleagues on both sides to support it.
“Yesterday evening, our agreement to re-open the government, secure funding for our men and women in uniform, extend health insurance for vulnerable children, and further delay three Obamacare taxes was signed into law. Now serious negotiations can resume on key issues such as immigration and border security, disaster relief, health care, and providing adequate levels of defense spending to support the new National Defense strategy – just to name a few.
“Because common sense and bipartisanship won out yesterday, we have a fresh start today. I challenge every one of us to make the most of it. The American people are watching. Once again, I want to thank the bipartisan group of Senators – spearheaded by Senator Graham, Senator Collins, Senator Flake, and several of our Democratic colleagues – who helped bring an end to this regrettable incident.
“And I’d particularly like to thank our Senate Finance Committee Chairman, Senator Hatch, for his powerful advocacy for the nine million children in low-income families who rely on the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Senator Hatch co-created S-CHIP with Senator Ted Kennedy on a bipartisan basis more than 20 years ago. I know he counts this program among his proudest legislative accomplishments – and with a career like Senator Hatch’s, that’s really saying something.
“I understand the six-year S-CHIP extension the Senate passed yesterday will be the longest extension in the program’s history. Its passage offers just one more testament – as if we needed one – to Sen. Hatch’s moral conviction, political skill, and care for the most vulnerable in our society. And it reminds us how much we’ll miss his work when he retires at the end of this Congress.”
Related Issues: Health Care, America's Military, Appropriations, Immigration
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