U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) welcomed the decision by President Trump to work with congressional Democrats and temporarily reopen the government in remarks on the Senate floor.
In his remarks, Sen. Warner called for federal employees and contractors to be allowed to return to work and receive the paychecks they deserve. He also highlighted the irreversible damage done to small businesses around Virginia and hundreds of thousands of workers, and called for the passage of a bill that would give back pay to low-wage federal contractors who will otherwise never collect the wages they lost during the 35-day shutdown.
Stressing the need to settle on a permanent solution and prevent a future lapse in appropriations, Sen. Warner emphasized his willingness to compromise on funding effective border security measures, such as the increased screening of vehicles and cargo. He also called for the Senate to prevent the future use of government shutdowns as leverage for negotiations by passing legislation that would automatically maintain level funding for the federal government in the event of a future lapse in appropriations.
Sen. Warner has been one of the most outspoken Senators on the need to end the Trump Administration’s government shutdown. He recently passed a bill to provide back pay to the workers who have been affected by the shutdown and introduced legislation to pay back federal contract workers.
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