Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told Newsmax on Wednesday that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is "testing the GOP's resolve" by keeping the government closed. He warned that the continued shutdown is harming millions of Americans.
On "American Agenda," Cornyn urged Democrats to act swiftly to end the stalemate.
Cornyn said the shutdown, now stretching into its 36th day, has inflicted needless pain on people across the country.
"More and more people are being hurt," he said. "Millions of people whose supplemental nutrition has been jeopardized, their food stamps.
"Many, many more inconvenienced because of delays at airports, and, unfortunately, safety problems in terms of our aviation. And a lot of federal employees, of course, haven't received a paycheck."
The senator emphasized that he has repeatedly voted to get the government running again.
"I voted 14 times to reopen the government," Cornyn said. "We've done everything we know how to do.
"But the president is correct that we're happy to negotiate anything and everything once they reopen the government."
Cornyn placed the blame for the ongoing shutdown on Schumer, accusing him of prioritizing politics over governance.
Cornyn said Schumer is more focused on appeasing the "radical base" of his party than on solving the problem.
He argued that Tuesday night's Democratic victories in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York City have made negotiations even harder.
"I'm afraid that last night has now emboldened them, so some of the discussions earlier, which were appearing to bear fruit, are now on hold," Cornyn said.
Cornyn also defended the Senate filibuster amid calls to scrap it through funding bills. He said President Donald Trump and Republican senators discussed it Wednesday morning at a White House breakfast.
"The filibuster has protected the country from a lot of bad laws and bad policies when Democrats were in charge," Cornyn said.
He warned that ending it would enable Democrats to impose sweeping reforms.
"As the president this morning said, without the filibuster, they would make the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico states, each with two new Democratic senators," Cornyn said.
"They would take over the election system and eliminate things like voter ID, and they would undermine the Second Amendment and expand abortion rights across the country."
"So, a lot of good reasons for the filibuster," he added. "But I must say, Sen. Schumer, with this Schumer shutdown, is testing our resolve here."
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