Monday on “MSNBC Reports,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) said Democrats will not “surrender” during the September budget battle like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) did with the Republican-led budget resolution the last time.
Host Ali Vitali said, “The other thread that I’m following as you all come back to town is the funding fight that is brewing for the end of September. The government shutdown of course, last time there was a lot of consternation between the Senate and the House. House Democrats told me that they sort of felt hung out to dry by Senate Democrats in the way that that ultimately ended up avoiding a shutdown. What are the lessons that you guys are going to put in play? I know that many of you look at this as a leverage point. Has the caucus already huddled and discussed a strategy?”
Khanna said, “We have. We’re going to fight. We’re going to stand up for our principle.”
Vitali said, “What does that looks like?”
Khanna said, “Well, it looks like withholding our votes until we get basic concessions. And you say, what are those basic concessions? Follow the law. Don’t militarize our streets. Don’t engage in the cuts to agencies like the Department of Education, USAID, NIH, NSF with which aren’t authorized by Congress. You have an administration that doesn’t care what budget we’re passing. What’s the point of passing a budget if they’re just going to make these cuts anyway? What’s the point of passing a budget for the CDC for vaccine implementation, when you have a Secretary of Health and Human Services who’s got edicts saying, we don’t believe in science, we don’t believe in MRNA. Can you believe that? It’s nothing to do with Covid. They’re blocking cancer vaccines that have MRNA. So this Congress has to stand up and say, we’re not going to be a blank check. You need to follow the Constitution. We’re Article 1, the president is Article 2; somehow, no one remembers that. And this is about the pride of government self-government in Congress. So we are not going to have the Schumer dance this time of just surrender. We are going to stand up for the American people, our base demands that.”
Follow Pam Key on X @pamkeyNEN
Read the full article here