Democratic Party tactics have wasted $6.4 billion since the start of the government shutdown, Sen. Joni Ernst told Newsmax on Wednesday.
The Iowa Republican said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America" that the GOP anticipates Democrats will once again vote against the bill Wednesday to end the shutdown and block the efforts of the Republican Party to open up the government, "so that we can continue working for the American people."
Placing the blame for the shutdown entirely on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Ernst said that since it began, "we have now wasted $6.4 billion paying for nonessential employees that are not showing up to work. We waste $400 million every workday that the government is shut down," adding that "the taxpayers [are] the ones that foot that bill."
Ernst decried what she called "Schumer shenanigans," with the senator contending that the Democrats are pulling stunts to keep the government shut down, while the "repercussions are felt by the American people," stressing that "every day working families are feeling the impact."
She explained that the government is on the verge of running out of funds for many essential services, and small businesses are struggling to stay afloat due to the shutdown.
Ernst stressed that this is all being done because Schumer may be facing a hard-left challenger in a primary.
The arguments that the Democrats are using to continue the shutdown are "absolute nonsense," Ernst said, adding that they are merely a way to divert attention from doing the people's business — reopening the federal government.
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Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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