Copyright Salt Lake Tribune
Amid a now monthlong shutdown of the federal government, Sen. John Curtis has a message for U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson: It’s time for Congress to get back to work. The Utah Republican’s remarks were teasers to an interview with Curtis on C-SPAN’s “Ceasefire” program. The full show — hosted by Dasha Burns, who is also Politico’s White House bureau chief — will be on CSPAN at 5 p.m. MT Friday and 8 a.m. MT on Saturday and Sunday. In a preview of the interview, Burns asked Curtis what his message to President Donald Trump and to Johnson, R-La., is about the federal shutdown, which could soon be the longest closure in American history. Curtis, responding to Burns’ question of whether Trump should be more engaged, said “yes and no” and pointed out the president doesn’t have a vote. “We talk all the time about Congress taking back more from the executive branch, and then here we are, leaning on the executive branch to solve our problem,“ Curtis said. ”So there’s a big part of me that wants to say we can do this ourselves, right?” Burns, interjecting, said the Republican president has directed much of what Congress has done since he returned to the White House in January. “Yeah,” the senator replied, “so this is our chance, right?” Curtis went on to say that Congress can’t end the shutdown unless around seven Senate Democrats join Republicans to vote for a GOP-led continuing resolution already passed in the U.S. House of Representatives. So far, Democrats have refused to join their Republican colleagues and vote for the short-term continuing resolution unless the GOP majority agrees to extend enhanced premium tax credits that help millions of Americans —and thousands of Utahns— pay for Affordable Care Act health insurance. Some Republicans have argued that health care funding needs to be addressed, but only after Democrats agree to the continuing resolution. Burns, in the preview, then asks Curtis how this shutdown compares to previous closures — and, she adds, a “glaring difference” is that the House, which passed its continuing resolution to fund the government through Nov. 21 in mid-September, is not working in the Capitol. “This is the strangest shutdown like ever,” Curtis responded, adding that when he was in the House, he would sit in his office day after day while congressional staff and federal workers went unpaid, and “that brings motivation.” “If it were up to me,” Curtis said, “we would be here. We would be pounding it out. We would find that consensus. We would open up the government and do exactly what the American people expect us to do.” Burns then asks Curtis what his message is for the House speaker. “So, listen. Look, Speaker Johnson, I love you, I love what you’ve done, but it’s time to get back to work.”
