Oklahoma's senior Congressman Tom Cole says the biggest lesson he's learned from the nation's record-breaking 43-day shutdown is that closing the federal government is an inappropriate tool that never works.

Just hours before the U.S. House of Representatives voted 222-209 for a bill that reopened the government Wednesday , Nov. 12, the Republican accused Senate Democrats of putting the well-being of Americans at risk by continuing to vote against an effort to temporarily fund the U.S. government.

See Full Page