Senator John Kennedy (R-La.) addressed the U.S. Senate regarding the likelihood of a government shutdown, emphasizing the need for bipartisan cooperation to keep federal operations running. Kennedy criticized both parties’ inability to reach an agreement and placed responsibility on Senate Democrats for their demands in ongoing budget negotiations.
“It looks like we’re going to have a shutdown. What does that tell us? I’ll tell you what it tells me: It’s simply that much more evidence that human evolution is a slow, slow process. I thought humans had advanced more as a species, but apparently, we haven’t,” Kennedy said during his remarks.
Kennedy noted that Republicans alone do not have enough votes in the Senate to avert a shutdown, stating, “We can’t keep government open just with Republican votes here in the Senate. We only have 53 Republicans. We need seven Democrats to join with us. So, for my Democratic colleagues to say, ‘Well, the Republicans are in charge, and they don’t need us.’ They know that’s not accurate.”
He explained that Republicans had proposed maintaining current funding levels until just before Thanksgiving to allow time for further negotiations on a permanent budget solution. According to Kennedy, this approach has been used previously under President Biden and when Democrats held the majority: “What we have proposed to our Democratic colleagues and the Minority Leader, Sen. Schumer, is to make no changes to the current budget. We just want to continue the current budget and keep the government open until just before Thanksgiving to give us more time to negotiate a permanent budget. We did that many times when President Biden was president, and when the Democrats had the majority. In fact, we did it 13 times… But this time the Democrats have said no… We want more.”
Kennedy claimed Democrats are demanding increased spending as part of their conditions for keeping government offices open: “And in fact, what the Democrats are saying to us is that. ‘We’re going to close the government unless you Republicans agree to make it bigger. We don’t want the status quo. We want you to commit to spending $1.5 trillion more than you’re spending now.’ . . . Their demands to keep government open, you could stack them here, and you could stand on them and paint the ceiling.”
He also commented on internal dynamics within Senate Democrats: “The loon wing is mad at many of my Democratic colleagues in the Senate. They shouldn’t be, but they are. And therefore many of my Democratic colleagues in the Senate are scared of the loon wing, and they want the loon wing to love them. The loon wing will never love them. They’re better off doing the right thing, and they know what the right thing to do is.”
Kennedy concluded by warning about potential consequences if an agreement is not reached: “So if you want a shutdown, I say to my Democratic friends, you better be prepared to deal with the mud. How are you going to get it back open? How are you going to get it back open? I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes to have to make that decision.”
The possibility of a federal government shutdown remains uncertain as both parties continue discussions over temporary funding measures.
