Show-Me State Times

U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) appeared on Fox Business’ Kudlow to discuss the ongoing government shutdown and legislative efforts in the Senate. During the interview, Schmitt criticized Democratic lawmakers for what he described as obstructionist tactics regarding the continuing resolution needed to reopen the government.

Schmitt said, “Look, I understand the President’s frustration. You look at what’s happening with the [continuing resolution] right now, where the Democrats are just completely obstructing the ability to reopen the government in an unprecedented way. All because they just want to try to thwart anything that President Trump [does] or our Republican agenda. But I think we’re going to get there. I think I’m hopeful that this week is the breakthrough [to reopen the government], because Democrats, have been using this election date, Larry, as sort of their D-Day. We’re into November now. They want to keep their left flank energized. They’re scared to death of them. They weren’t going to do anything before the ‘No Kings’ rally. They weren’t going to do anything before this election. So, regardless of how it turns out, they’ve been stoking this flame, and I think that once today’s election is over, we’ll get at least five Democrats to come over and reopen the government. It’s just ridiculous. Air traffic controllers haven’t been paid in a month. ICE agents haven’t been paid in a month. It really is ridiculous and stupid.”

He also addressed concerns about potential changes in Senate procedures: “Well, [Democrats] certainly want to add states to the union. They want to pack the Supreme Court. They want to federalize elections. They want to make voter ID laws illegal in states like Missouri. They have a pretty radical agenda that — if they could do with 51 votes — would be incredibly dangerous. But, in the short term, I hope that this is the week that we break through and pass the [continuing resolution]. The other thing that’s important to note here, Larry, is that we’ll have another opportunity to move forward an aggressive agenda with another reconciliation package. We’ve got another bite at that Apple, probably into the new year. So, I think there’s a lot of priorities that we can get done. I mean, look we did so much in the One Big Beautiful Bill — historic tax cuts, all the things that we did to secure the border for deportations and immigration reform. So, all those things are already done, but there are some more things we can do, probably on the national defense side and for law enforcement. So, we’re not done yet moving forward this aggressive America First agenda President Trump wants to see done.”

Regarding plans for extending funding measures and passing appropriations bills through regular order rather than omnibus legislation at deadline moments—a process he attributed as common under Senator Schumer—Schmitt stated: “That’s a big discussion we had in our Senate lunch today. The Republicans were talking about extending [the CR]. There’s no way we’re going […] to give them another opportunity to grandstand three weeks from now. So, I think we’re going to give the amount of time necessary, probably into the new year. There’s some debate about December or January but [we need time to] allow us to finish the appropriations bills, Larry. That may seem in the weeds, but one of the significant things the Senate majority is doing under Senator Thune is actually doing the work that we’re supposed to do, which is have appropriations bills on the floor. Schumer never did that. He just ended up with an omnibus bill at midnight that no one ever read. We’re not going to do that. We’re going to have regular order. We’re going to have a [continuing resolution] long enough to make sure we do appropriations bills. I think that’s the right path.”