On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” House Minority Whip Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA) responded to arguments that Democrats are to blame for the government shutdown by saying that “We have been saying to them since March, work with us, work to improve a healthcare system that wasn’t working very well for people when the Trump administration began, and they are dismantling it, dismantling it.”
Host Jake Tapper said, “So you’re blaming the Republicans for the shutdown, but, in point of fact, it’s the Democrats in the Senate who are refusing to vote for the clean continuing resolution to fund the government for seven weeks. Just as a point of fact, the way that we have always covered shutdowns is that the party that is not voting for the CR, the continuing resolution to fund the government, is the party that is blocking the government funding and is responsible for the shutdown. That’s how we did it the last time in 2018, 2019. That’s the time we did — before that, during the Obama administration. It’s your party that is refusing — in the Senate — that is refusing to vote for the continuing resolution.”
Clark responded, “Well, we are refusing to vote for that because it does not address this healthcare crisis that they have continued. And not only is it what they did in the big, ugly law, but it is, even in the CR, where they’ve taken away healthcare from 4 million more additional people. We have been saying to them since March, work with us, work to improve a healthcare system that wasn’t working very well for people when the Trump administration began, and they are dismantling it, dismantling it. So come to the table and negotiate.”
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