As the “Schumer Shutdown” enters its third week with Democrats unified and sticking to their guns that it’s all about healthcare, one Republican senator said that she’s “open” to talks about extending Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies if it would lead to reopening the government.
Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) appeared on Sunday’s edition of “State of the Union” on CNN where the topic was the ongoing shutdown, pure political extortion from the Democrats who are holding America hostage by making outlandish demands rather than do what’s right for Americans and voting to approve the “clean” continuing resolution that was already passed by the House but remains stalled in the Senate where it needs 60 votes to advance.
Anchor Dana Bash asked Britt about whether she was open to a vote to extend the expiring COVID-era subsidies, as Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) had proposed last week as a way to get enough Democrats on board to pass the short-term funding bill and reopen the government.
(Video Credit: CNN)
“Would you vote to extend the subsidies?” Bash asked.
“Look, first off, let‘s be honest about this. Democrats are playing politics. They are pandering to the far left because they‘re actually terrified of them. They‘re not working for the American people,” Britt answered. “Leader Thune has put a clean CR that has passed the House on the floor. This is something that Democrats voted for 13 times under President Biden to give us an opportunity to continue to do our work.”
She pointed out that the subsidies were not a part of the conversation until Democrats seized on them to gaslight Americans about the shutdown just days before the deadline, also explaining that Obamacare itself has been a debacle from the get-go, driving health insurance prices up, with even the Washington Post recently acknowledging the obvious, that the ACA itself “was never affordable.”
Britt also noted that the subsidies are being exploited by those who have ample financial means, and that she supports an income cap to qualify.
“Senator, I hear you saying that there needs to be reform, which I understand in the short-term, though, the question is whether or not you would approve,” Bash asked. “You would, because you might have an up or down vote on this, a one-year extension for the premiums as they are. Would you vote yes or no?”
“Well, what I want to vote for is to open the government, which I have done a number of times. I have said that I‘m absolutely open to having a conversation, but we‘re not going to extend a program that is wrought with fraud, waste, and abuse,” Britt answered. “There would have to be adjustments to this program to make it make sense for the American people.”
“Look, we are spending out of oblivion, and the Democrats don‘t seem to focus on how we make these things actually work. Our healthcare system is broken,” she continued. “The system that they put in place, and I remind you, this is their program, the Affordable Care Act. These are their subsidies, and they set the date for their expiration, and now the Democrats want us to dig them out of a hole.”
Even though Britt strongly criticized the Democrats and blamed them for the shutdown, her remarks could be interpreted as conceding that the Democrats’ talking points on the shutdown are based on a principled stance to preserving affordable healthcare for all Americans – and not just doling out freebies to illegal aliens – is valid.
“I’ve told them. I said, and I’ve said, ‘We are willing to have the conversation.’ I’ve said, ‘If you need a vote, we can guarantee you get a vote by a date certain.’ At some point, Democrats have to take yes for an answer,” Thune said in an interview with MSNBC that aired last Wednesday, offering Schumer an off-ramp if he chooses to take it but also giving Democrats a chance to declare victory and look like heroes to their base.
The first cracks have now formed in GOP unity while Democrats are holding the line, regardless of how much pain their shutdown inflicts on the American people.
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