Both of Ohio’s U.S. Senators are speaking out against the federal government shutdown. But Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican Rob Portman are taking different stances on how to get it back open.
Brown says it’s time for Senate Republicans to approve a bipartisan budget despite President Donald Trump’s objections.
“There are beginning to be cracks in this ‘whatever the president wants, we do’ view of Senate Republicans and I’m hopeful that continues and it helps us open the government in the next couple of days,” Brown said.
But Portman believes Democrats have the ability to reach a solution with Trump.
“The reason we’re in this shutdown is because both sides are unwilling to talk, that’s what makes this so stupid,” Portman said.
Portman said on the Senate floor that Democrats have supported physical barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border in the past, and that Trump can switch from building a wall and making a fence.
