Capitol Hill was recently left in a state of shock and confusion after a Democratic senator objected to a proposed solution that would block senators from receiving paychecks during the current partial government shutdown and all future shutdowns and immediately bolted from the room. The resolution was presented by Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA).
Kennedy’s resolution quickly received an objection from Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), who immediately ran out of the U.S. Capitol without any sort of explanation for his decision. Other lawmakers present in the chamber wore puzzled expressions after Schatz’s dash out of the room. Kennedy was especially baffled by the sudden exit.
“With respect, I want to give my colleague Senator Schatz more time. He objected and left the chamber. Is he coming back?!” Kennedy asked in a now=viral clip of the incident. “Is he ill? What should I do?” Everyone else seemed as confused as he was and no answer was given for next steps. Kennedy raised his hand, palm upward, off-and-on for several minutes without a response.
According to Yahoo News, Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) then asked if it was allowable for a senator to raise an objection and “run out.” Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) replied, “An object was raised and an objection was heard.” Before Schatz made his great escape, Kennedy took a few minutes and explained his resolution.
“It would change Senate rules to provide that when we are in a shutdown, that senators cannot be paid, cannot receive their salaries. Their checks would be — think of it this way… locked in a vault. And once the shutdown is over, the senators could pick them up,” Kennedy told his colleagues in the chamber. This isn’t the first time Kennedy has made a proposal like this. He made a similar one last fall.
He brought it up again as the shutdown hit its 36th day, which has led to President Donald Trump taking action to deploy ICE agents to airports across the country in order to help relieve long security lines. Kennedy continued to stand for several more minutes before getting into an amusing exchange with Banks who said he can’t “opine on why a senator is or is not in the chamber.”
“Can you opine on why my colleague objected and then immediately left? And whether he’s coming back?” Kennedy went on to ask. Banks then said, “Uh, not an appropriate parliamentary inquiry,” he responded. Cameras in the chamber did not capture Schatz making his mad dash out of the room, though many believe this would have made for great comedic viewing.
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Conservatives responded to the video on Facebook with a number of strong opinions. One user wrote, “Of course they’ll never vote to stop paying themselves!! How stupid! The American people should be voting on this, not the evil ones themselves.” Another said, “Why do we have such childish people representing our country. If you voice saying no, yet run out crying like a crybaby. They should remove people from office if they cannot do their job.”
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video