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The federal government reopens on Monday night after a three-day shutdown. President Trump signed a spending bill passed by both the Senate and House.

The measure will fund the federal government until February 8. Senate Democrats agreed to the deal after Republicans agreed to allow immigration reform to come to a vote.

Indiana 8th District Congressman Larry Bucshon shares his reaction via phone to the federal government reopening.

Transcript of interview:

Brad Byrd: "Joining us now by phone in Washington is Indiana 8th District Congressman Larry Bucshon. Congressman Bucshon, thanks for joining us. This has come down to who is blinking first. Mitch McConnell has said he has intentions to get D.A.C.A. on the table if the chamber signs off on reopening the government until February 8th. What do you think is going on here?" 

Rep. Larry Bucshon: "Well I think ... first of all, the shutdown in my view wasn't necessary. There were good negotiations going on on the D.A.C.A. and the border security issues. I do think that the Democrats based on the left were really pushing them for this, but I think the Democrats and the Republicans in the Senate realized we need to open back up the government. And it's not fair for the American people to shut down the government over fund related non-budgetary issue. That's what happened. I'm very pleased the government is back open. We're paying our troops, and the rest of the government is functioning." 

Amy Mangold: "Congressman Bucshon, now there has been a lot of finger-pointing blaming for this shutdown. Do you feel that was a protective use of the time that the government was shut down?" 

Rep. Larry Bucshon: "Well, you know, I'm not going to in retrospect say whether it was a productive use of the time of not. I think there was a legit dispute between Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans. But the House side, there wasn't a dispute. We passed a funding bill to fund the government through mid-February. The only think to remember on this bill is the six year extension for the Children's Health Insurance Program or CHIP which is the longest extension ever, and they were running out of money. As also, we delayed the medical device tax, health insurance tax, and the Cadillac tax part of Obamacare. So, there was a legitimate dispute on the Senate side. They were able to resolve it and move forward, so I'm just happy for my constituents that the federal government is back open." 

Brad Byrd: "And Congressman, you and I have talked about this before. President Trump's role in on this. Senate McConnell said last week the president sent somewhat mixed signals regarding D.A.C.A. And I'm quoting McConnell here: 'I'm looking for something that President Trump supports, and he has not yet indicated what measure he is willing to sign. As soon as we figure out what he is for' ... this is quoting McConnell again ... ', then I would be convinced that we were not just spinning our wheels.' Does that frustrate you at times, the signals the White House is sending Congress on both sides of the aisle?" 

Rep. Larry Bucshon: "Yeah, it's frustrating sometimes. But I think the key negotiators came to a decision last week that it would come to four things: D.A.C.A., changing immigration, border security ... the three being the most important and internal enforcement of laws that were already on the books. I think the White House has been pretty clear since that time that these four things would be part of any deal, and so I'm just happy the negotiations are going to get started again. Look, on the House side, even the most staunch conservative Republicans want a deal on D.A.C.A. But we also want a deal on border security. We don't want to be in this situation again in the future. I'm pretty optimistic going forward. And let me just say that funding the government short-term continuing resolutions. It's not the appropriate way to fund the government. We've passed on the House side all the appropriations bills to fund the government as of last September. The Senate didn't pass a single bill, and they just couldn't come to an agreement. The Democrats filibustered all of those bills for a variety of reasons. We need to get the budgetary process in order. It's broken, and I'm pushing for that." 

Brad Byrd: "Alright. Indiana Congressman Larry Bucshon, thank you for joining us tonight." 

Amy Mangold: "Thank you." 

Rep. Larry Bucshon: "Thanks for having me." 

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