Senate Standoff Over Government Shutdown Continues
Republican Senator John Kennedy from Louisiana took to the Senate floor on Friday to outline a range of projects he claims should be reconsidered before Democrats agree to reopen the federal government.
On the same day, Senate Democrats blocked a bipartisan funding bill, pushing the government shutdown into the following week as only three Senate members supported the measure across party lines. Kennedy criticized Democrats for holding government functions hostage and recovering millions for what he termed “useless foreign projects.” He also mentioned that lawmakers had already removed certain provisions from the budget.
“We’ve eliminated funding for various media related to the Affordable Care Act. That’s just one issue. Another factor is that Representative Ocasio-Cortez, along with the party’s more progressive factions, expressed significant dissatisfaction. And yes, she has every right to feel that way, but it certainly bothered the more leftist elements of the party,” he explained.
Kennedy argued that Democrats want to reinstate spending items that Republicans have already cut. This includes:
- Over $4 million for LGBT projects in Uganda
- $3.6 million for cooking and dance workshops aimed at male sex workers in Haiti
- $500,000 for an electric bus in Rwanda
- $6 million to support Palestinian media
- More than $833,000 for a Transgender Training Initiative in Nepal
- $300,000 to sponsor a Pride Parade in Lesotho
- Nearly $900,000 for mentorship and social media programs in Serbia
- $3 million for circumcision and sterilization programs in Zambia
“We took those out. The lawmakers and leftists in their party are insisting we return those sorts of expenditures to a more open government,” Kennedy remarked.
The senator emphasized that this conflict is centered around priorities, with Republicans urging Democrats to discuss the full budget only after current funds have expired. “This whole debate underscores our struggle. We’re in the midst of negotiating a budget with a Democrat colleague, but we’ve reached a time constraint. The deadline was midnight on Tuesday. What we are asking for is simply to keep negotiating,” he said, adding that they hope to agree on a budget extension for another six weeks.
Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky was the lone Republican to oppose the seven-week funding measure that aimed to keep the government open until November 21. The proposal failed with a vote tally of 54-44, marking the Democrats’ fourth attempt to prolong the shutdown.
Progressive groups like MoveOn have initiated organized efforts to pressure Democrats into rejecting bipartisan approaches and prolonging the shutdown for political leverage. Nonetheless, some Democrats, including Senator John Fetterman from Pennsylvania, have questioned the rationale behind withholding government funding until Republicans concede on a $1.5 trillion health expenditure.
