Washington, DC - U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) issued the following statement:
"It is unconscionable that Congress is ending the year without doing anything to protect the nearly 800,000 Dreamers who are Americans in every way except for lacking documentation when they were brought to the US as kids. It's outrageous that we're leaving without doing anything more than the barest minimum to help 9 million kids facing the loss of coverage because the Children's Health Insurance Program has expired. It's indefensible that we're heading home without doing anywhere near enough to help the people of Texas, of Florida, of the Virgin Islands, of Puerto Rico -- American citizens -- who are still suffering the effects of devastating hurricanes, including the loss of electrical power, months after the fact.
"If President Trump and Congressional Republicans had a fraction of the determination to right these wrongs as they had to heap a massive tax cut windfall on corporations and the richest Americans, we wouldn't be in this mess.
"People's lives are literally in the balance here. I can't accept apathy, inaction, or further delay on these critical issues, and I voted against this short-term funding bill to say enough is enough."