Barrasso Scorches Senator Schumer’s Trillion-Dollar Shakedown

"Today, Senator Schumer has written not a Dear Colleague letter, but the biggest ransom note in American history. One trillion dollars in ransom for four weeks of keeping the government open. It is filled with partisan poison pills that will never become law…The Schumer Shakedown is designed to lead to a Schumer Shutdown."

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Senate Majority Whip, today scorched Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's (D-N.Y.) radical, trillion-dollar ransom note. Senator Barrasso discussed how Senator Schumer's poison pill plan will lead to a Schumer Shutdown.

Click HERE to watch Senator Barrasso's remarks.

Sen. Barrasso's remarks as prepared:

"Two years ago, when the government was on the brink of a shutdown, Senator Chuck Schumer wrote a letter to his colleagues. In his letter to Senators, Chuck Schumer wrote, 'We cannot afford brinkmanship or hostage-taking… The only way to avoid a shutdown is through bipartisanship.' Today, Senator Schumer has written not a Dear Colleague letter, but the biggest ransom note in American history. One trillion dollars in ransom for four weeks of keeping the government open. It is filled with partisan poison pills that will never become law.

"Senator Schumer is doing today exactly what he once condemned. He's holding the American people hostage. This isn't a spending bill. It is a shakedown. The Schumer Shakedown is designed to lead to a Schumer Shutdown. Let me break down this ransom note line by line - because the American people deserve to know what Democrats are demanding.

"Democrats are demanding $400 billion to continue their COVID-era spending spree. We were originally told these COVID bonus subsidies would be temporary. Democrats now want to turn them into another permanent giveaway. This is in spite of the fact the COVID crisis ended years ago. The Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman was right. Nothing is more permanent than a temporary government program.

"Additionally, Democrats want to weaken Medicaid for those who need it most. Republicans' comprehensive economic plan strengthens Medicaid. We reduce waste, fraud, abuse, and corruption. Democrats want to kill those reforms. They want to repeal the entire healthcare section of the law. Democrats would rather shut down the government than stop states from paying for free healthcare for illegal immigrants. Democrats want to give Medicaid to able-bodied, working-age adults who refuse to work. Democrats are holding America hostage for people who broke our laws and people who refuse to get jobs.

"Now, let's talk about money sent overseas. This bill spends billions of dollars on radical climate projects. Zimbabwe will get over $13 million for 'civic engagement.' Honduras will get $25 million for 'climate resilience.' West Africa will get $40 million for 'low-emissions development.' Let that sink in. Republicans want to pay our troops here at home. Democrats would rather fund climate projects overseas. Democrats are willfully wasting billions of hardworking Americans' tax dollars on their liberal fantasies. Republicans are proposing seven weeks of clean funding. Democrats are demanding seven figures for foreign slush funds.

"Now, to be fair, Democrats do make some spending cuts. Regrettably, those cuts target our nation's most vulnerable hospitals in rural communities. Democrats want to eliminate the $50 billion Rural Hospital Stabilization Fund. I'm a doctor. I've practiced medicine in my home state of Wyoming for more than 20 years. We have many small community hospitals. With rural hospitals under significant stress, the last thing Congress should do is remove the funds designed to help keep them open and send that money to foreign countries.

"Let me return to Senator Schumer's own words. 'We cannot afford brinkmanship or hostage-taking.' Yet hostage-taking is exactly what he is doing today. Senator Schumer is demanding $1 trillion in new spending for keeping the government open for four weeks. He is sending billions of dollars to foreign countries but slashing billions of dollars for rural hospitals in our country. He is subsidizing free healthcare for people who refuse to get jobs but threatening the paychecks of the people whose job it is to keep our country safe. Senator Schumer is demanding a far-left wish list - or else he will shut the government down. Make no mistake. Republicans will hold Democrats accountable for supporting Senator Schumer's dangerous political theater.

"The good news is, Congress can keep the government open and functioning without hostage taking and without shakedowns. Republicans' clean continuing resolution is ready to go. It is seven weeks long. It gives Republicans and Democrats on the Appropriations Committee the time they need to finish their work. The House passed it today. It was bipartisan. The President says he will sign it. Senate Democrats voted for similar bills not once, not twice, but 13 times when Joe Biden was President. There is only one person standing in the way of keeping the government open. That person is Senator Schumer.

"Senator Schumer said himself we cannot afford hostage-taking. I would say to the Minority Leader, stop holding government funding hostage. Tear up the ransom note. Keep the government open. The American people deserve better than a trillion-dollar Schumer Shakedown."

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