Two Democratic senators call for blocking votes unrelated to shutdown

Both Democratic senators from Maryland said Sunday that the Senate shouldn’t take up any legislation unrelated to the partial government shutdown until a vote is taken to reopen the government.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) wrote on Twitter that Democrats in the Senate “should block consideration of any bills unrelated to opening the government,” while also calling on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to allow a vote to reopen the government. 

{mosads}”Senate Democrats should block consideration of any bills unrelated to opening the government until Sen. Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans allow a vote on the bipartisan bills the House passed to open the government. Mitch, don’t delay. Let’s vote!” he tweeted.

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) wrote in response that he “agreed” and called the shutdown a “crisis” and a “fundamental failure.”

“Agreed. This isn’t business as usual. This is a crisis, a fundamental failure to govern, and Americans are suffering for it,” he tweeted. “The Senate should not take up any bills unrelated to reopening the government until [McConnell] lets us vote on exactly that.” 

Senate Democrats should block consideration of any bills unrelated to opening the government until Sen. Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans allow a vote on the bipartisan bills the House passed to open the government. Mitch, don’t delay. Let’s vote!

— Chris Van Hollen (@ChrisVanHollen) January 5, 2019

Agreed. This isn’t business as usual. This is a crisis, a fundamental failure to govern, and Americans are suffering for it.

The Senate should not take up any bills unrelated to reopening the government until @SenateMajLdr lets us vote on exactly that. #Shutdown https://t.co/IUiJLWP68R

— Senator Ben Cardin (@SenatorCardin) January 6, 2019

The government is currently in its third week of a partial shutdown, with lawmakers unable to come to an agreement on President Trump’s demand for $5 billion in border wall funding.

Trump has said he won’t sign a funding bill that doesn’t include money for the wall, while Democrats have vowed not to approve any wall funding.