“There’s a difference between the way we want to govern and the way they want to change politics.”
Washington, D.C. – Monday evening, U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), joined CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins. The Senator discussed the optimism on ending the Schumer Shutdown this week, the effects of a lapse of funding in federal programs, and the importance of the legislative filibuster.
Senator Mullin also continues to keep the American people updated through his social media videos that can be found on X, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
The full interview can be found here.
On Schumer and the Democrats likely caving this week:
“The Democrats that I spoke with have been very clear that they want to open it back up. Schumer was afraid that they open it back up, that they would lose momentum in those races, that their voters would stay home, and they didn’t think the optics were good for them to open it back up until after the election. You know, we’ve heard, Kaitlan, that several Democrats have misspoke by saying that the people are leveraged, that it only gets better for them. We don’t have to go through the names. You guys have heard all the names; but at the end of the day, this has all been about politics, and so the political elections are over and they’re going to look for an off ramp.
“The Hill reported that the Democrats feel like now their neck is in a guillotine; that they can’t let up now…
“Schumer told Dick Durbin that ‘listen, after the election, we’ll let you guys go, let you vote on how you want to vote, and open the government back up.’”
On the easiest way to replenish the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP):
“It’s an easy way to pay all of it, Kaitlan, open the government back up. We’re not asking the Democrats to do anything they haven’t done before. Vote for the same CR they voted for four other times. That’s simple. Why they’re trying to put the blame on the President of the United States by saying that he should fund it. We are the funders of the government. We control the purse strings. Congress does, not the executive branch, the legislative branch. The best way to make sure those programs are funded is that we open the government back up. We’re going to vote tomorrow for the 14th time for an opportunity for the Democrats to open it up and guess what, not half, but 100% of the SNAP program would be funded if the Democrats voted yes.”
On President Trump’s calls to terminate the legislative filibuster:
“I get people have a knee jerk reaction, want to have extraordinary measures. The Democrats wanted to get rid of the filibuster. We wanted to get rid of the filibuster in the past. The truth is, it’s there to protect; but if you look at the difference why the Democrats want to get rid of the filibuster, and why we do. We want to get rid of it, and the President wants to get rid of it so we can govern. When you start looking at the Democrats, what they would use it for is they would use it to pack the courts, because that’s why they tried to get rid of it last time. They would use it to federalize the elections; they were open about that in ‘21 why they wanted to end a filibuster. They would go after fossil energy; they would go after making Washington, D.C. a state.There’s a difference between the way we want to govern and the way they want to change politics.
“We need to win elections all the time, but the truth is, we probably won’t always be in the majority in the Senate, and when we’re not in the majority, we enjoy the filibuster.”
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