Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy took to the Senate floor Friday and laid out a list of projects he said Democrats are insisting be restored before they agree to reopen the federal government.
Senate Democrats blocked a bipartisan stopgap funding bill on Friday, leaving the shutdown to drag into next week after only three crossed the aisle in support. Kennedy accused Democrats of holding the government hostage to restore what he described as millions in wasteful foreign projects and said lawmakers had already stripped the provisions from the budget, only to see the party’s left flank threaten to keep the shutdown going unless the money is put back in.
“We just eliminated money for all forms of media in the Affordable Care Act. Now those are the demands. I’ll mention one more. Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez got very, very upset, as did the socialist wing of the party, when the president sent over what’s called a rescission package. Basically, President Trump just said we want you to take some stuff out of the budget that we think is wasteful, and we did,” Kennedy said. “And that upset the congresswoman. She’s entitled to be upset if she wants to, but that really upset the socialist wing of the party. And so we took out, and here’s what they want us to put back in.”
WATCH:
Kennedy said Democrats are demanding the return of spending items Republicans had already stripped out, including:
- Over $4 million for LGBTQ projects in the Balkans and Uganda
- $3.6 million for cooking and dance workshops for male sex workers in Haiti
- $500,000 to purchase electric buses in Rwanda
- $6 million to subsidize Palestinian media outlets
- More than $833,000 for transgender training initiatives 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 it out, the congresswoman and the socialist wing of their party says we’ve got to put that back in for that open government,” Kennedy said. (RELATED: Bernie Sanders Blames ‘Megalomaniac’ Trump For Shutdown And Predicts Mass Death)
Kennedy said the shutdown boils down to a fight over priorities, with Republicans asking Democrats for just six more weeks to negotiate a full budget after funding expired.
“That’s what this fight is all about. We’re in the process of negotiating a budget with our Democratic friends. We ran out of time. The cutoff was midnight Tuesday night. That’s when the clock struck midnight, and the budget ran out,” Kennedy said. “What we had asked for and what we’re still asking for is to let’s continue [to] negotiate. We — meaning the Republicans and the Democrats — for six more weeks and try to agree on a budget. That’s all we’re asking.”
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul cast the lone Republican vote against the seven-week funding measure, which would have kept the government open through Nov. 21. The 54–44 tally failed, marking the fourth time Senate Democrats voted to prolong the shutdown.
Far-left groups such as MoveOn have mounted a coordinated campaign to pressure Democrats into rejecting the bipartisan bill and extending the shutdown for political leverage. Still, a few Democrats, including Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, broke ranks and questioned the strategy of withholding government funding until Republicans agree to tack on $1.5 trillion in healthcare provisions.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
