Columbia News

Today, U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) discussed the recent Senate agreement aimed at ending the government shutdown. In an interview with Fox News’ America Reports, Schmitt criticized Democrats for their opposition to President Trump’s agenda and described the shutdown as unnecessary.

“Now, that we’re forty-plus days into the Schumer Shutdown, it looks to be coming to an end with a key vote last night, with at least a handful of Senate Democrats coming to their senses to end all this nonsense. That […] was totally fruitless for them and ridiculous. The whole thing was stupid. But now I think we are moving forward. The question now is — in the Senate, from a procedural perspective — it’s possible that all the time and all the hurdles could be collapsed into votes this evening, which would send it over to the House [of Representatives]. Then, the earliest they could probably do something is Wednesday night […] But that’s not a given. Senators could object to collapsing the time, and it could drag on a few more days. But I do think we’re on the road here to actually making sure that the Capitol Police officers who protect us are being paid, the air traffic controllers get paid. The idea of what’s happening in the skies right now is incredibly dangerous, and it’s all because the Democrats decided to hold [the government] hostages. That just didn’t work.”

Schmitt highlighted concerns about federal workers affected by missed paychecks during the shutdown, particularly air traffic controllers. He referenced low attendance among air traffic controllers in New York and noted how travel disruptions could worsen as holidays approach.

“[…] Take New York, for example. I think they only had about 15 percent of the air traffic controllers show up to work. They weren’t being paid. I have to tell you, I’m not typically in Washington on a Sunday, I’m back in Missouri — I go back and forth every week —and I was at Mass yesterday morning, and it did strike me to look around. The people are really suffering. The idea that you would go without two or three paychecks for the Democrats to just grandstand because they want to be viewed as the ‘resistance’ fighting Donald Trump was a flawed strategy from the beginning. I’m glad a few of them have come around, but we got to get these people paid. Get back to work. I don’t think it’s instantaneously going to solve the problem of air traffic control, but the sooner we get our job done here, the sooner they get paid. You get more people coming back to work, and people can travel again because the Thanksgiving holiday is not that far away.”

Addressing Democratic leadership in Congress, Schmitt commented on what he sees as continued resistance within their ranks.

“I think [House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries] sounds angry, and I think it’s emblematic of the radicalization that’s happened on the left that’s captured the Democrat Party. They’ve never really come to grips with what happened a year ago. The American people rejected all the excesses of the Biden administration. They rejected the censorship, they rejected the lawfare, they rejected inflationary policies, and they wanted to return to common sense. And so when President Trump put that cabinet together, it was people — the [Make America Healthy Again] movement — all these things that American people had an opportunity in their jury box to weigh in on. And they did! One of problems Democrats have right now is they're leaderless. They don't have a message... All they know — the only play they have in their playbook — is fight Trump... The American people don't want that... They want us actually move this country forward... President Trump has got vision go do that.”

The Senate deal still requires further action before government operations fully resume.