The Senate failed to pass a bipartisan stopgap spending measure Friday, extending the government shutdown. Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana took to the Senate floor just before the weekend to outline a list of outrageous spending items he says Democrats are demanding be restored before they agree to reopen the federal government.
Only three Democrats voted with Republicans, after which Kennedy accused Democrats of “holding the government hostage” to restore what he described as millions of dollars in unnecessary or wasteful foreign spending that Republicans had already removed from the budget.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul was the only Republican to vote against the seven-week funding proposal, which would have kept the government open through Nov. 21. The measure failed 54–44, marking the fourth time Senate Democrats have voted to continue the shutdown, reports the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“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.”
Kennedy detailed what Democrats are pushing to reinstate spending items that Republicans had previously removed, including:
• Over $4 million for LGBTQ programs in the Balkans and Uganda
• $3.6 million for cooking and dance workshops for male sex workers in Haiti
• $500,000 for electric bus purchases 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.
Kennedy argued that the standoff is fundamentally about budget priorities. He said Republicans are simply asking Democrats to allow six more weeks for negotiations after the current 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 explained. “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.”
