Republican Senator Ron Johnson Talks Russian Sanctions, Federal Employee Pay

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Fresh reaction amid these reports this evening on a potential workaround to end the government shutdown. We're joined now by Republican Senator of Wisconsin Ron Johnson. He's with us Lie from Capitol Hill and Senator, it's great to have you back on Bloomberg TV and radio. I'm looking forward to your thoughts on the shutdown here, but I'd love to ask you about this news that's coming from the White House now and whether the moment has arrived for secondary

Vote well again, I really will that up to the President when he wants that is a backstop to put pressure on Putin.

I think that's room Wilacked understood.

Is that something that you feel like we're moving closer to as he prepares to sit down with the Secretary General at NATO. We're just trying to get a sense of which direction the president's leaning in here and how to deal with Vladimir Putin.

Well, my guess he's getting pretty disgusted with the dealer of Vladimir Putin. He's giving him every opportunity to end up with a peaceful solution. Here dangled economic benefits in front of him, obviously threatened sanctions.

Again, this president wants peace.

I think if there's a hallmark to his administration, even his previous administration, he's not a wartime president.

He wants peace. Now.

He used an a cheap piece through strength, but in the end, he wants peace, and he's doggedly pursuing it.

And you may have heard Joe just go to the go to truth social posts from the president. He just shot down a Wall Street Journal report that the US is allowing Ukraine to use long range missiles in Ukraine. How will that play into what is supposed to be a meeting between President Trump and Vladimir Putin, which is now looking much less likely.

Yeah, I think that meeting is canceled because Vladimir Putin keeps lobbing missiles more than lobbying launching missiles into Ukraine. I get apparently hit Kindergarten earlier today. Again, the lenmricpoons a war criminal.

There's no reason for him to invade Ukraine.

The fact matter is he's not going to lose this war, though, you've got to recognize that reality. The only way this war ends us through a negotiated settlement. We're not going to like the terms of that, but even like even worse, the bloody stalemate that we're in right now, where we're losing thousands of people on both sides of a week, it's just untenable.

I want to ask you about what's happening with the shutdown here, Senator. I spoke earlier with the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, who kind of stopped us in our tracks when he suggested that he might be behind a full year cr in fact one that would get us through December of twenty twenty six whant I need to hear what he said earlier on Bloomberg.

Let's listen.

December twenty first, twenty twenty sixth is what I've been hearing up here as a suggestion as an opportunity of a continued resolutions. As we know we're operating under a year long resolution.

From last year.

We're looking at what was appropriated when Biden was president.

That was a Congressman Jason Smith earlier on Bloomberg, Senator, is this what it's come to and would you support a full year continuing resolution.

What would be a much better idea would be just passed my eliminate shutdowns at But that doesn't sets up automatic rolling fourteen day continuing appropriations for whatever department of all government that hasn't been appropriated for. That would give the appropriators time to find areas of agreement, pass the bills that can pass the ones that don't. You just

Give the appropriate appropriators time.

The appropriators some of the Republicans even vote against the limit a shutdown Act they said would undermine the appropriations process. Well, here's the alternative, a CI that goes into December twenty twenty six. So hopefully people will come to their senses and realize Eliminate Shutdowns Act is the solution to our current fix CENTAER.

It doesn't seem that that bill has gone very far yet. Are you sensing you will get some more support for this?

Well, the good news is a leader of thutent switches vote to no swinging brand for reconsideration. Again, I was very disappointed Republican appropriates voting no.

They said it would.

Undercut the appropriation process. But let me describe that appropriation process it supposedly underminds. I've been here fifteen years. That means we should have passed one hundred and eighty appropriation bills before the start of the fiscal year you're funding.

We've passed six.

So this vaunted appropriation process, which is clearly broken, fails ninety six point subset of the time. The Eliminated Shutdown Act does not undermine that process.

It just gives us all the time.

We wouldn't be sitting here the fourth week, going to the fourth week of a shutdown doing nothing. We could have been on appropriation bills. We could have been working with each other, we could have been negotiating. But instead we've got this shutdown show in showdown with literally no end in sight. Hopefully tomorrow, but hopefully today the Democrats are actually vote for the continued resolution.

Doesn't sound that they will.

The next best step is, let's at least pay the federal workers were forcing to work. That's the Shutdown Fairness Act that I've offered that will be voting on tomorrow.

I want to ask you about that. I know you're reintroducing this. To your point, there's a vote tomorrow. Do you worry that this makes shutdowns easier, that it removes a pain point that might actually compel lawmakers to end this saga?

Clearly, the current system is utterly broken. Right now, we just cross thirty eight trillion dollars in debt and the definition in Sandy's doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.

So again we're in this this function.

Let's not make federal workers who are being forced to pay pay for our dysfunction.

So again, this makes perfect sense.

Even the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Associations generally not an association of that agree with the Republican bill. Completely supports this peace of legislation. So at a minimum, we ought to pass the Shutdown Fairness Act and pay the people we are forcing to work, military, federal law enforcement, air traffic control, people who write our Social Security checks.

These people deserve their paycheck. They're working. By the way, they're gonna get paid anyway.

We have a lot that can to provide back pay, So pay them, you know, in time, so they don't have to go to food banks. They don't have to drive door dash to pay for their daughter's tuition. We're hearing stories that's what federal employees are being forced to do. That's unconscionable.

You know you mentioned you mentioned Argentina. Are you concerned the attention to that is is making problems with Wisconsin farmers when you're dealing with a shutdown.

I don't remember mentioning Argentina. Maybe I wasn't articulating something. Listen, we've got a problem right now. From a standpoint, the government is shut down, things aren't moving forward. There's a common sense solution here. Either just pass the Continuing Your Appropriation or the Eliminate Shutdown Act. Simple solutions, common sense. I think the vast majority of Americans would agree with that. Right now, we're being held hostage by quite hostly the

We appreciate it, Senator, and we appreciate your time, Senator Ron Johnson.