Statements on Short Term Government Funding
The following are some statements from the Georgia delegation that were issued after the announcement by President Donald Trump that an agreement has been struck to fully fund the federal government until February 15.
Sen. David Perdue:
“This bipartisan solution will reopen the government while border security negotiations continue. There is still a national security crisis at our southern border, and President Trump is right to address it. I applaud the President for his continued forthright efforts to enter into good faith negotiations with House and Senate Democrats. Many Democrats have supported and voted for border security in the past, but throughout this process they’ve clearly demonstrated they want to keep immigration as a political issue, and not find a real solution. If Democrats refuse to work with us to tackle this national priority over the next few weeks, President Trump will do what is necessary to protect America. Ultimately, this situation only underscores the dysfunction in Washington’s funding process. These conversations should have been completed last year, not four months into the current fiscal year.”
Sen. Johnny Isakson:
“I’m glad the leadership of the House and the president have come to an agreement and hope that we can now sit down and negotiate in earnest to secure our border and get the government back in operating order.”
Rep. Sanford Bishop (D, GA-2):
“I was relieved to hear that the President will sign legislation to reopen the government for three weeks as this will allow our federal workers and contractors to be paid and provide Americans with the services to which they have been deprived. For 35 days we have asked to reopen the government, pay our workers and debate on border control security measures. In the meantime, I stand ready to do all I can to undo this damaging shutdown and give relief to the selfless 800,000 federal workers and all other Americans who have been hurt from this shutdown.”
Rep. Hank Johnson (D, GA-4) via Tamar Hallerman (AJC) on Twitter:
Rep. Rob Woodall (R, GA-7):
“I appreciate that President Trump was the first person to step forward and end this shutdown. Our government will be reopened and our public servants will be paid for all of their hard work. Speaker Pelosi has stated numerous times that she was willing to work on border security, including barriers where appropriate, once the federal government is reopened and operating. Let’s hope she and her party are willing keep their word and come to the negotiating table. With everything that has happened, it is easy to be cynical about the state of affairs for our nation. We need to remember that there is much more that unites us as Americans than divides us.”
Rep. Doug Collins (R, GA-9) via Twitter:
“I fully support @POTUS @realDonaldTrump’s decision to reopen our government and send federal employees back to work. As Ranking Member of @JudiciaryGOP, our highest priority remains working with the Administration to #SecureOurBorder.
About Author
lawtonsack
Lawton is a graduate of Georgia Southern University (the GSU) with a degree in Information Technology. He has held numerous positions within the Georgia Republican Party throughout the years.
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Our government should never ever be shut down, period. Holding government, contracted employees and the public in general hostage is not good government, it’s pathetic. Newt should be ashamed he started it. I suggest that this flaw in our budgeting process be fixed by NEVER allowing the government to ever be shut down over budget issues again. Until a budget is agreed upon, the previous budget must stay in place to continue funding government. I call on my Congressmen to put forth a bill that disallows government funding to ever again be used as a bargaining chip.
I agree that we should never shut down the government for any reason. The root cause of this is Congress has refused to do its job for 20 years. They have ceded more and more of their constitutional responsibility to the executive and judiciary. In this latest shutdown McConnell made it clear he could not act without the president’s blessing. This is not the way the process was supposed to work.
I get your idea but here’s what would happen: the Republicans claim to be the party of small government. They would never pass a budget or make appropriations for social programs thus shrinking them out of existence. Democrats would immediately retaliate and stop funding things Republicans like DOD, Agriculture etc. We’d be right back where we are now, the government would be open but it would not have the resources to respond to natural disasters like hurricanes, tornados’, wild fires, inflation necessitated adjustments etc.
The only way to force Congress to do its job is the 1) elect better people or 2) make a constitutional amendment that stated if budget and appropriations bills are not passed annually every member of Congress is barred from seeking reelection for any federal office for 10 years. This will force congress to do its job or get the ..ll out of Washington.
It’s not that McConnell could not act. It’s that McConnell would not act..
Why Trump Blinked
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/government-shutdown-ends/
Aggregate 39.2% had something to do with it. Perdue likely did not, but enough of the other Republican senators did finally break with the President’s “shut show” (H/T Benevolus). Apparently McConnell allowed the Pres to save face.
Of course this is why he backed down!
The shutdown did have two positive outcomes: 1) it drove down support for Trump to even lower levels, even among his base. 2) It kept him from going to Davos and embarrassing America again on the world stage as he has done every time he left this country.
These are not worth the cost of the shutdown but in every cloud there is a sliver lining.
The specter of closing airports raised the ante. Also, getting Roger Stone off the lead news spot didn’t hurt.
It wouldn’t have been out of character for Isakson vote anyway, but I wonder how much next week’s Superbowl influenced his vote.
The more I think about it just being a 3 week reprieve, the more I tend to agree that the demotion of the Roger Stone indictment from the weekend lead story was also a factor. With any other president I wouldn’t dream of a 2nd round so close to being bloodied badly in the 1st, this one however…
I don’t understand what is going on in David Perdue’s head. As Isakson shows, it is possible to welcome this development without further abasing oneself to the Trump idol.
I hope he gets decent challengers from both sides.
Apparently it is not possible for Perdue to stop his Trump abasement. Useless lickspittle.
Collins showed how to stay firmly in Trump’s camp and still recognize that when you’re in a hole it’s important to stop digging.
Is it abasement if it’s welcomed?