{"id":792367,"date":"2019-01-24T20:08:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-25T03:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/opinion-knopf-a-call-to-end-shutdown-suffering\/"},"modified":"2019-01-24T20:08:00","modified_gmt":"2019-01-25T03:08:00","slug":"opinion-knopf-a-call-to-end-shutdown-suffering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/opinion-knopf-a-call-to-end-shutdown-suffering\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion | Knopf: A call to end shutdown suffering"},"content":{"rendered":"

Enough is enough! And our Sen. Michael Bennet thinks so too! He went on a rant on the Senate floor Thursday. You really need to see it. He told Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, he’s done with his crocodile tears for first responders, since Cruz cared nothing for Coloradans in 2013 when our state was underwater, and Cruz voted to shut down the government then, just like now. Go to our online edition, you’ll find the YouTube link there<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bennet said, “It’s his business, not my business why he (Cruz) supports a president who wants to erect a medieval barrier on the border of Texas \u2014 who wants to use eminent domain to build that wall \u2014 \u2026 take it from the farmers and ranchers \u2026 now he’s saying the taxpayers have to pay for it. That’s not what he said during his campaign. \u2026 he said Mexico was going to pay for the wall \u2026 now we’re here with the government shut down over his broken promise while the Chinese are landing spacecraft on the dark side of the moon. \u2026 America is not interested in having him keep (his promise).” You go Bennet!<\/p>\n

I don’t care if you’re a Republican or a Democrat. I don’t care if you think we must have a border wall or if you are dead set against it. We are citizens; and our employees, our fellow citizens, have suffered enough for the sake of a political squabble. This ends NOW! Last week I said call McConnell and Gardner. Now we must call every Republican U.S. Senator and tell them to fund our government, no strings attached. Do it now. Do it as if your bills depend upon it. We have neighbors, friends and relatives who can’t pay their rent this month. They are depending on us. I put my notes next to the list. I’m going to keep calling today. Can we count on you?<\/p>\n

1. Mitch McConnell, R-KY, Majority Leader, 202-224-2541: recording, could not leave a message<\/p>\n

2. John Thune, R-S.D., Majority Whip, 202-224-2321: spoke to a staff member<\/p>\n

3. John Barrasso R-WY, chairman of Republican Conference, 202-224-6441: spoke to a staff member<\/p>\n

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4. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, Vice Chair, 202-224-3254: left a voicemail message (VM)<\/p>\n

5. Roy Blunt, R-MO, Chair Policy Committee 202-224-5721: left a voicemail message<\/p>\n

6. Todd Young, R-IN, Chair Senatorial Committee 202-224-5623: press 1, VM<\/p>\n

7. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Chair Steering Committee, 202-224-5444: VM<\/p>\n

8. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, Chief Deputy Whip 202-224-6142: press 1, VM<\/p>\n

9. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Senate President Pro-Tempore, 202-224-3744: VM<\/p>\n

10. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, 202-224-5251: press 1, VM<\/p>\n

11. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., 202-224-5972 Press 1, VM<\/p>\n

12. Cory Gardener 202-224-5941: press 1, VM<\/p>\n

13. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, 202-224-6665: press 3, staff, Murkowski supported both measures<\/p>\n

14. John Boozman, R-AR, 202-224-4843: VM<\/p>\n

15. Mike Braun, R-IN, 202-224-4814: spoke to staff<\/p>\n

16. Richard Burr, R-N.C., (202) 224-3154: VM<\/p>\n

17. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V., 202-224-6472: VM<\/p>\n

18. Bill Cassidy, R-LA, 202-224-5824: spoke to staff<\/p>\n

19. Susan Collins, R-Maine, 202-224-2523: press 1, VM<\/p>\n

20. John Cornyn, R-Texas, 202-224-2934: press 2, VM<\/p>\n

21. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D. ,202-224-2043: VM<\/p>\n

22. Tom Cotton, R-AR, 202-224-2353<\/p>\n

23. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, 202-224-5922<\/p>\n

24. Steve Daines, R-MT, 202-224-2651<\/p>\n

25. Michael Enzi, R-WY, 202-224-3424<\/p>\n

26. Deb Fischer, R-NE, 202-224-6551<\/p>\n

27. Josh Hawley, R-MO, 202-224-6154<\/p>\n

28. John Hoeven, R-N.D., 202-224-2551<\/p>\n

29. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-MS, 202-224-5054<\/p>\n

30. James Inhofe, R-OK, 202-224-4721<\/p>\n

31. Johnny Isakson, R-GA, 202-224-3643<\/p>\n

32. Ron Johnson, R-WI, 202-224-5323<\/p>\n

33. John Kennedy, R-LA ,202-224-4623<\/p>\n

34. James Lankford, R-OK, 202-224-5754<\/p>\n

35. Martha McSally, R-AZ, 202-224-2235<\/p>\n

36. Jerry Moran, R-KS, 202-224-6521<\/p>\n

37. Rand Paul, R-KY, 202-224-4343<\/p>\n

38. David Perdue, R-GA, 202-224-3521<\/p>\n

39. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, 202-224-3353<\/p>\n

40. James Risch, R-Idaho, 202-224-2752<\/p>\n

41. Pat Roberts, R-KS, 202-224-4774<\/p>\n

42. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., 202-224-5842<\/p>\n

43. Marco Rubio, R-FL, 202-224-3041<\/p>\n

44. Ben Sasse, R-NE, 202-224-4224<\/p>\n

45. Rick Scott, R-FL, 202-224-5274<\/p>\n

46. Tim Scott, R-S.C., 202-224-6121<\/p>\n

47. Richard Shelby, R-AL, 202-224-5744<\/p>\n

48. Tom Tillis, R-N.C., 202-224-6342<\/p>\n

49. Patrick Toomey, R-PA, 202-224-4254<\/p>\n

50. Roger Wicker, R-MS, 202-224-6253<\/p>\n

51. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, 202-224-3004<\/p>\n

52. Lamar Alexander, R-TN, 202-224-4944<\/p>\n

53. Marsha Blackburn, R-TN, 202-224-3344<\/p>\n

Why call Republicans and not Democrats? The Republicans passed the budget last December and then they changed their minds. They decided they had to have the border wall and would not pass the budget without the dedicated funds. Trump said he would take the credit for the government shutdown. But the credit reportedly really goes to Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. I’m so delighted to know my government is being run by people who are not elected to serve the people nor represent our interests.<\/p>\n

Trump’s Secretary of Commerce multimillionaire Wilbur Ross apparently is clueless<\/a> as to the dire straits of our U.S. government employees. He said they should trot themselves down to federally insured bank or credit unions and just take out a loan for their needs until this all blows over. He says it will be just “a little bit of interest.” Lara Trump<\/a>, wife of Eric Trump said, “It is a little bit of a pain but it’s going to be for the future of our country. \u2026 I know it’s hard, I know people have families, they have bills to pay, they have mortgages, they have rents that are due \u2014 but the president is trying every single day to come up with a good solution here.”<\/p>\n

Do any of these people have a clue? Do any of them know what it’s like to live paycheck to paycheck? For the record, the people have spoken. Pew Research Center, Quinnipiac University, PBS polls and others all find that a majority of Americans oppose the wall and agree shutting down the government is not the way to settle this political dispute.<\/p>\n

Republican spin masters are trying to convince us that Democrats are unwilling to secure the border. Again the Democrats and national polls demonstrate everyone favors more money for border security, they just don’t think the wall is the most effective way to get the job done. Who won’t compromise?<\/p>\n

That’s why you need to call the Republicans. They are the ones who won’t listen to Americans.<\/p>\n

See our digital online version of this column for links to source material. Susan Knopf is a Summit County resident. She has won awards from the Associated Press and United Press International for her news reporting.<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Enough is enough! And our Sen. Michael Bennet thinks so too! He went on a rant on the Senate floor Thursday. You really need to see it. He told Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, he’s done with his crocodile tears for first responders, since Cruz cared nothing for Coloradans in 2013 when our state was underwater, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-792367","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-12 09:32:30","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=792367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792367\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}