GOP's 'ticking time bomb' is about to detonate: senator

A Democratic senator slammed the Trump administration Tuesday for "viciously terrorizing federal employees" by using the government shutdown as an excuse to fire them and separately warned Republicans left a "ticking time bomb" — that's about to detonate.

“The Trump administration is now viciously terrorizing federal employees," Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) told CNN anchor Kasie Hunt. "Some of them claim that when you're in a shutdown, they have to fire federal employees. That's just a lie. You furlough federal employees, but there's no previous shutdown where administrations have fired federal employees. And I think it's very important that the public understand that this is gratuitous cruelty that's also hurting the American people by depriving them of the benefit of that good work."

Van Hollen argued that the shutdown was bad for the American people, and particularly bad for federal workers.

"I see this as being bad for the country. Republicans or Democrats. And the reality is, these patriotic federal employees are being unfairly punished for something they had nothing to do with. And when you punish federal employees, you're actually punishing the American people by depriving them of the benefit of the important services that those federal employees perform," Van Hollen said.

Van Hollen said he's now voted seven times in the Senate, and will vote again for an eighth time Tuesday night, to open the federal government. He accused Trump of attacking government employees and hurting Americans — something he wants to challenge the president about now that it is the second shutdown during Trump's second administration.

"But to do so without giving Donald Trump a total blank check to continue his illegal activities, which from day one have harmed federal employees, and to deal with the healthcare crisis that is about to be triggered because Republicans left a ticking time bomb on healthcare," he added.

"And we would like to have a discussion with the president of the United States. He's been working to try to bring an end to the conflict in the Middle East. But he's unwilling to address the situation right here at home and talk to Democrats about ending the Trump shutdown," Van Hollen said.