Congressman Cohen Reacts to Trump Agreeing to Re-Open Government

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) reacted to news late this afternoon that President Trump has agreed to re-open agencies closed in the Trump Shutdown without the $5.7 billion border wall he had been demanding as a condition for ending payless paydays for 800,000 federal employees. The shutdown has lasted a record-breaking 35 days.

Congressman Cohen made the following statement:

"Holding federal employees' livelihoods hostage in order to get Congress to meet an unreasonable border policy demand was always a bad idea. I'm pleased our federal employees will be coming back to work, and that they will quickly receive their backpay. I hope we can get these issues resolved before the new February 15 deadline, and the possibility of another impasse and shutdown. I hope the President has learned his lesson that the public will not tolerate unsafe aviation, lack of food safety inspections and other hazardous conditions the shutdown imposed.

"I want to commend Senator Alexander for his vote Thursday night, joining all the Democratic Senators in signaling his willingness to re-open the government without border wall funding. And I'd like to mention that Speaker Pelosi's insistence that the House would not host a State of the Union speech with the government shut down went a long way in making the President ‘reasonable.'"