U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.), Vice Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, joined his colleagues on the floor today in an effort to restore funding for several common-sense government operations – an effort that Senate Democrats blocked:

“Senate Republicans don’t want a government shutdown. Unfortunately, Majority Leader Reid and his Democrat colleagues who control the Senate would rather continue waging a partisan battle than restore common-sense funding for our National Guardsmen and women, veterans’ services, life-saving cancer research, and national parks and museums. Just as Congress passed legislation to ensure our men and women in uniform receive paychecks during the shutdown, it makes sense to ensure these operations continue until Congress can reach an agreement to reopen the government.”

Blunt spoke on the floor this morning calling for a unanimous consent agreement to allow a vote on legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that would restore funding to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for critical life-saving medical treatment. The effort was blocked by Democrats, who objected to four unanimous consent requests to pass spending bills to resume normal operations for several important government functions.

It was recently reported that NIH is unable to provide life-saving medical treatment due to the shutdown, which resulted in the furlough of approximately 75 percent of NIH employees.