Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said Sunday he is working to avert a government shutdown with a "number of different options."
In an interview on CBS's "Face The Nation," Barrasso predicted any shuttering at all
"would certainly only be a partial shutdown."
"I\'m working to the fact of keeping the government open," he said. "I think that's what the American people expect of the people that they elect, keep the government open."
He said the options include both a short-term continuing resolution that would keep the government open into January or "a longer term" solution — and he suggested there could be a compromise on President Donald Trump's demand for $5 billion in funding for a border wall.
"There are a lot of things you need to do with border security," he said. "One is a physical barrier — but also the technology, the manpower, the enforcement, all of those things, and our current laws are in some ways an incentive for people to come to this country illegally. And they go through great risk and possibly great harm."
On a ruling last week that invalidated Obamacare, Barrasso, who is a medical doctor, said he considered coverage for preexisting conditions a "first step" in any health insurance.
"Government never does big things really well," he said. "I'm for more of a step-by-step and I want to start with the first step of people with preexisting conditions," citing his own wife, who is a breast cancer survivor.
"If you give states that flexibility and freedom to do what works best with the money, I think it works much better for families and for patients," he said.
Barrasso also asserted Medicare for all is not the answer and voters agree.
"'We don't want Medicare for all, we paid into Medicare our whole life,'" he quoted one Wyoming voter telling him.
"This isn't the time to put more people onto that program," Barrasso said. "We want to make sure that that is saved and strengthened and held for people that are already on the program and have paid in over their lifetime."
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