Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) issued the following statement after the Senate passed legislation to end the GOP shutdown and avoid the Republican led default:
“I’m relieved that we are finally reopening the government and that we’ve let the world know that the U.S. will pay its bills on time. Now we must focus on the work we were sent here to do. I look forward to having a serious discussion about how we can continue to spur our economic recovery while addressing the long-term sustainability of our debt.
“Minnesotans are rightly frustrated with Washington, and I am too. I hope those Members of Congress who caused this shutdown learn that the American people don’t want us to govern by lurching from crisis to crisis. I hope we are able to return to working on the issues we should be focused on: putting people back to work, educating our kids, and strengthening our economic recovery.”
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The Senator might have added that these crises were manufactured by the Republican Party.
Senator Franken is correct, the American people cannot afford to be shutdown and shut out of their government, to have government services shutdown and their paychecks on delay. We deserve better than this.
The American people also can’t afford the at least $24 billion the shutdown cost us. The Republican shutdown also shaved 0.6 percent off of the nation’s economic growth, according to new analysis from Standard & Poor’s.
Sadly, anyone who thinks that the Republicans who caused this mess learned anything from it should check Senator Ted Cruz’s wallet, where he is almost $2 million dollars richer from holding the country hostage. Unless he grows some ethics any time soon, he won’t learn a thing from this debacle.
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