Dallas

Sen. John Cornyn on Shutdown: ‘This Needs to Come to an End'

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) was at an event in Dallas Tuesday, and expressed frustration with the partial government shutdown as it reached its 32nd day.

"These people are working without pay and it's just unacceptable, and it needs to stop," Cornyn said.

About 800,000 government workers are poised to miss a second paycheck.

The Senate will vote Thursday on a proposal from President Donald Trump to end the shutdown. The proposal calls for $5.7 billion in funding for the border, and includes three years of protections for immigrants brought to the country illegally as children and those covered under the temporary protected status. Cornyn said he was hopeful 60 senators would vote for the proposal as a first step to begin negotiations.

"I think this proposal by the president does offer us an opportunity to break the stalemate, but it is going to require those of us who are elected senators and congressman stepping up and sometimes doing things that are a little uncomfortable," he said. "But compromise is not a dirty word. As I said, border security is non-negotiable in my view, but the exact formula at each location along the way should be something that should be adapted to the circumstances and not dictated from Washington. But I think so far this has been more about politics, about who wins and who loses, the political gamesmanship, and there are a lot of good people that are getting hurt, and it is just shameful."

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