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As the government shutdown enters its second month, Democrats continue to dodge questions about whether their hardline stance on extending Obamacare subsidies is worth keeping federal workers without pay and risking benefits.
When asked by Fox News Digital if the standoff over Obamacare is worth the hardship faced by federal workers going weeks without pay and benefits lagging, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) responded, “We have to ask a Republican, because the Republicans have agreed to exactly zero negotiations. Donald Trump is out flying around the world, the Republicans here in the Senate won’t do a damn thing without Donald Trump telling them to, and the House Republicans are now on their sixth week of paid vacation.”
Warren added, “So, you know, we’d like to sit down and negotiate, but we’ve got no Republicans on the other side.”
President Donald Trump embarked on a diplomatic tour to Asia this week, meeting with leaders from a variety of countries, both friendly and unfriendly to the U.S., including South Korea, Japan, and China.
Meanwhile, House Republicans have been in recess, with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) indicating the chamber will remain on break until the Senate agrees to the House-passed budget continuing resolution bill to reopen the government.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) also placed the blame on Trump when asked the same question. He said, “He’s got to agree to live by the deal we come up with; thus far we’ve not been able to get him to agree.”
Kaine emphasized the importance of securing a guarantee from the president, adding, “The issue that matters the most to me in opening government is getting the president to guarantee that if we open it, he won’t then tear up the deal. We have to do a budget deal for 30 days or 45 days, whatever is done, but he has to agree that if you do that, he won’t then the next day start firing more people, canceling projects.”
Kaine credited Trump for finding funds to pay U.S. troops “when the House refused to come back to take up a military pay bill,” saying, “I think that’s important.” Still, he criticized the president for withholding aid to federal workers, stating, “Nobody should go hungry, nobody should go without pay. President Trump has billions of dollars in a contingency fund for staff that Congress put there for this moment and he is cruelly refusing to use it, and that’s all on him.”
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) weighed in as well, calling Trump’s stance “as fabulously immoral as any act seen by any president ever.” Merkley noted, “The funding is there for November, $5.5 billion. The president has the authority to distribute those funds. But the president decided to attack the welfare of America’s children as a bargaining chip.”
When faced with the question, Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) said, “Republicans are giving us two choices: either take health care away from millions of people or take food away from millions of people and don’t pay the troops. I don’t think that’s the choice that we’re facing.”
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) fired back, “You’re talking to the wrong Democratic senator because I voted for the continuing resolution 13 times.”
Pressed further on why more Democratic senators haven’t followed suit, Cortez Masto added, “You’ve got to talk to my colleagues.”
Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) framed the issue as one of affordability, stating, “The Republicans in the House haven’t been to work in six weeks. So, it shows how callous and uncaring they really are. They need to reopen this government immediately.”
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