What Ron Johnson said, and what was done

“Mr. President, my fine State of Wisconsin has a gray wolf population problem, but that was not always the case. Back in the eighties and nineties, we had the opposite problem.”

“Mr. President, I only stand to point out that Wisconsin DNR is not exactly an organization that is not willing to protect wildlife. It certainly is. It set the delisting baseline at 250.”

“Mr. President, in reserving the right to object, I guess today is my day to refute the Democrats' false assertions and claims. Earlier today, when chairing the Budget Committee hearing and Democrats falsely accused the Republicans of cutting and slashing Medicaid, I repeatedly had to remind them that the year that ObamaCare kicked in, in 2014--the first year of Medicaid expansion--we spent $300 billion on Medicaid.”

“Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I am down here now for the third time with a smile on my face. This is humorous. It would be humorous if it weren't so tragic.”

“I am here to object. I will keep it short. I was down here a couple weeks ago when the Senator from Rhode Island had a similar type of what he called a simple-truth resolution, but it is not that simple.”

“Reserving the right to object, I have got a smile on my face here. First of all, let me state that I am not a climate denier. I am just not a climate alarmist, like the Senators from Rhode Island and Massachusetts.”

“Great. Listen, listen, I have barely spent any time here, OK. The bottom line is, in those hearings, I asked witnesses: How much have we spent combating climate change?”

“Mr. President, I would just like to offer a few words of rebuttal for the Democratic leader. He talked about high oil prices. He didn't mention the fact that when President Biden was in office and Democrats were in charge, in June of 2022, the national average gas price reached almost $5 a gallon.”

“Reserving the right to object. Mr. President, first of all, let's--since I have the opportunity: We all revere and respect those men and women who have served and sacrificed to defend our liberty.”

“When the House passed their version of the PACT Act, the CBO score was for $322 billion over 10 years. The Senate got its hands on that piece of legislation, and the score was $667 billion.”

“Mr. President, reserving the right to object, the Senator from Connecticut said we need to do our job. I agree. Our job is to recognize the fact that we are $39 trillion in debt on the back of $60 trillion, with the Social Security trust fund running out during that timeframe.”

“Mr. President, as my colleague from Louisiana wishes we were all here voting on the deal and that my colleagues on the other side had taken yes for an answer to open up the government, I wish that is what I was on the floor here today to do.”

“Mr. President, 2 weeks ago, I came to the floor in support of a bill that we were going to vote on, a motion to proceed called the Shutdown Fairness Act.”

“Reserving the right to object, it is important that the American public understand what is going on here. Again, I came down here 2 weeks ago. I modified my bill quite dramatically.”

“Senator from Delaware and the Senator from Michigan. Within those talks--again, 2 weeks ago--they were accusing my bill of giving the President all this additional authority. In discussions staff to staff, they admitted there is no additional authority I am giving to the President in this bill whatsoever.”

“In reclaiming my time briefly, let me emphasize the fact that if you pass this now--again, to the Senator from Michigan, I am literally begging him: Do not object.”

“Again, let me correct--I hate to say--falsehoods that were presented here in the Chamber. My bill is completely silent in terms of Presidential authority. To the Senator from Michigan, I know they want to put language in there to restrict Presidential authority, but the fact of the matter is--and I made him well aware of this--that it is a bill that would never be signed into law.”

“Mr. President, I came to the floor 2 weeks ago with a completely nonpartisan, very sincere attempt with a bill that we call the Shutdown Fairness Act to simply pay the Federal workers whom we were requiring to work, the finest among us: the members of our military, people in Federal law enforcement, TSA, and air traffic controllers to keep our skies safe.”

“I want to thank the Senator from Alaska. He has been so dedicated. He has been so tenacious in making sure that the finest among us, the men and women of our military, get paid and then, you know, signing on to my effort to broaden this to all Federal employees.”

“I appreciate the remarks from the Senator from Wyoming. I know people are coming down here to vote, but there are no time restrictions, and this is extremely important.”

“I want to thank Senator Cruz for his sobering remarks. This Chamber should be full. It would be nice if our Democratic colleagues were here to listen. I hope they are listening on their TVs in their office.”

“I want to thank the Senator from Florida. I see the Senator from Michigan. I believe he wants to speak to this bill. We will have the last word.”

“Mr. President, I am not quite sure what planet the Senator from Michigan comes from, but here on planet Earth, when you read the actual language of the bill, none of these phantom provisions exist in there.”

“I want to thank the Senator from Utah for his remarks. Mr. President, I don't want to spend time refuting all of the misrepresentations from the Senator from Michigan in terms of what phantom provisions he claims are in my bill.”

“Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I have come here today on the floor in good faith. I have come here not to argue. I have come here trying to find agreement.”

“Yes, yes. Mr. VAN HOLLEN. The short answer is, we do want to pay all Federal employees because none of them should be punished, but we also don't want them to be fired and RIF'd during this period of time.”

“Again, I am trying to keep this--let's not argue. OK? Let's focus on areas of agreement. So reduction in force, again, I think we probably have a philosophical disagreement there.”

“I am willing to come a long way in terms of including furloughed workers. So, again, what I am suggesting is the way to do it--by the way, this could be a wonderful example for this body, working on a piece of legislation that, again, you bring it to the floor.”

“Let's get on the bill. And then let's sit down in good faith. Let's hammer out amendments, and let's get the thing passed next week. Let's do that.”

“Let me address that. I think this brinkmanship has got to end. I have been here 15 years. We should have passed 180 appropriations bills before the end of the fiscal year.”

“Mr. President, reserving the right to object, again, I will condense my remarks because so much of what I want to say I already said to the Senator from Maryland.”

“So now we will proceed to the cloture vote on the Shutdown Fairness Act. In response to this, quickly. It is unrealistic to expect almost any piece of legislation to pass by unanimous consent, a bill that has just been introduced that exact morning.”

“No, we are not there yet. I am sorry. I will conclude quickly. The bottom line is, as I talk to the Senator from Maryland, the way to pass this law--the way to protect Federal workers--isn't with the unanimous consent request of a bill nobody has ever seen; it is to vote for cloture on the Shutdown Fairness Act.”

“Mr. President, I will ask you, I will ask everybody in the Chamber, everybody listening to me on C-SPAN: Aren't you getting sick and tired of the shutdown showdowns?”

“Mr. President, I will ask you, I ask anybody in the Chamber, anybody who will listen to me on C-SPAN: Aren't you getting sick and tired of these government shutdown showdowns--with the drama, the turmoil, partisan bickering, the holding American people and our economy hostage for demands for billions and billions of dollars and more spending that we can't afford?”

“And the very sad fact is, over the next 10 years, based on the CBO's most recent figures, the total 10-year deficit is going to equal about $26.4 trillion.”

“Mr. President, the late great Senator Tom Colburn referred to earmarks as the gateway drug to runaway spending. In testimony before the House in 2018, he stated: I have witnessed earmarking up close and know it is inherently corrupt.”

“Mr. President, I think by now you have seen all kinds of different versions of this depressing chart of total U.S. debt. Back in 1998--and we will be talking about that year--when Bill Clinton was President and we had our first budget surplus since 1969, the debt level was about $5\1/2\ trillion.”