As he’s been traveling back and forth between Kentucky and Washington D.C., U.S. Senator Rand Paul has heard a lot of concerns and questions from Americans—and at the top of the list is ongoing government shutdown.
The shutdown of the federal government will have last 30 days come Thursday, and it has the potential to be the longest shutdown in American history, if lawmakers do not come to an agreement soon. And there’s a lot on the line, including the ending of SNAP benefits funding on Saturday, paychecks for federal employees that haven’t been paid in a month, increasing health insurance premiums and more.
Senator Paul says he’s heard all those concerns and more, and while he had previously voted ‘no’ on prior spending levels—because both proposed plans would add trillions of dollars to the national debt—he’s voting to get the government back open so federal works can get paid.
He explains that some of the holdup has been legislators’ inability to come to an agreement on healthcare subsidies through the Affordable Care Act.
The SNAP program and its benefits, which is the food assistance program hosted through the U.S. Department of Agriculture that helps low-income families afford groceries, is set to run out of funding on November 1. Senator Paul says he doesn’t have an answer for those concerns yet, but he’s hopeful the shutdown will come to an end sooner rather than later.
He says he has also been hearing familiar concerns about inflation effecting all aspects of life, especially grocery items, while salaries seem to be stagnating.
A 13th effort to end the shutdown impasse failed yesterday in the Senate and there are no plans to vote on the measure Wednesday. Even when the shutdown ends, there remains plenty on the table for Congress and the Senate to consider, from tariffs to a possible ‘bail out’ for farmers.