With agreement reached Monday to reopen the government after a weekend of being shut down, Pennsylvania lawmakers reacted to the temporary measure to keep government running while broader immigration issues are debated in Washington.
U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican, said he was encouraged that an agreement was reached to reopen the government.
“We found ourselves in this dysfunctional mess because my colleagues across the aisle recklessly refused to govern and held the government hostage on a single issue impacting a select group of illegal immigrants,” Toomey said. “This is not how decisions about the government’s budget should be made.”
While Toomey said he was glad to see the Senate return to regular order, he added that going forward, “Democrats should allow the Senate to debate, amend and pass each of the 12 annual funding bills well before the end of the fiscal year.”
For his part, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat, said he felt that nothing had been accomplished, and that it was the fault of Senate Republicans.
“Republicans in Washington, including President Trump, provoked this shutdown and created this crisis because of their failure to focus on the middle class,” Casey said. “I will hold them accountable on the promises they have made.”
While Casey was openly disgruntled with Republicans for “genuflecting to the extreme right,” he stated he believed it was time to “work in a bipartisan way to get results for families.”
U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., said he was looking forward to working with his Democratic colleagues in an effort to reach a bipartisanship agreement.
“I look forward to an open, bipartisan discussion on how best to solve our broken immigration system, protect the fate of the ‘Dreamers’ and ensure our borders are secure for the safety of all Americans,” he said.
Thompson voted in favor of the short-term spending bill, funding the government through Feb. 8.
Thompson believes one of the biggest “wins” following the reopening of the government was the agreement to fund the Children’s Health Insurance Program, but that he still had hopes for more.
“This stopgap funding will expire on Feb. 8, and it is my hope that we will return to regular order and fully fund the government to provide certainty to all Americans.”
