WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) released the following statement on her decision to vote no on the Continuing Resolution (CR):
“I will be voting no on cloture for the Continuing Resolution.
“Donald Trump and Republicans are forcing two terrible choices on us, both of which are bad for the people of this country, and would hand unchecked power to President Trump and Elon Musk as they slash and burn government services on their own terms.
“This bill we are voting on is not a ‘clean Continuing Resolution,’ and it does not continue the spending and policy law that Congress passed last year. Instead, it would slash support for fetal alcohol syndrome, epilepsy, and Alzheimer’s at the National Institute of Health. It fails to pay for disaster relief or fund hundreds of millions of dollars for important community projects for Minnesota, from childcare centers in Moorhead to public safety investments for Rochester and supporting rural health care on the Iron Range. It would give President Trump vast discretion to allocate funds to reward his political friends and punish those he considers enemies. And this is only a sampling of the damage done by this bill. Therefore, I cannot support it.
“President Trump and House Republicans wrote this bill on their own, with no consideration for my views or any of my Democratic colleagues, and they will own the consequences. From the beginning, President Trump and the Republicans set this up as an unprecedented power grab.”
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