House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is challenging Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to a debate on the government shutdown, despite the fact that the Speaker successfully passed a clean continuing resolution (CR) which Democrats rejected.
According to Senior Congressional Correspondent for Fox News Chad Pergram, Jeffries openly challenged Johnson to a debate on the House floor over the shutdown, asserting that Democrats have been “clear and consistent in our position” that there must be “bipartisan” negotiations to reach what he described as an “enlightened spending agreement that reopens the government, improves the lives of hardworking American taxpayers, and addresses the Republican healthcare crisis” — completely ignoring that the GOP put forth a clean CR that keeps things the same, simply extending Biden-era policies in spending.
Jeffries again blamed President Donald Trump and Republicans for shutting down the government — something polling shows the American people are not buying. The Democrat said it is Republicans, not Democrats, who shut the government down over health care, accusing them of setting in motion a “healthcare crisis that has ended Medicaid as we know it and ripped coverage away from millions of working-class Americans.”
Time and time again, Republicans have reminded Americans that Democrats are essentially fighting over coronavirus-era COVID subsidies and healthcare for illegal immigrants.
Pergam quoted Jeffries further: “Given the urgency of the moment and the Republican refusal to negotiate a bipartisan agreement, a debate on the House Floor will provide the American people with the transparency they deserve.”
Jeffries also asserted that a debate would give Johnson an opportunity to “explain your ‘my way or the highway’ approach to shutting the government down when Democratic votes are needed to resolve the impasse that exists.”
Johnson reportedly responded by pointing to polling showing Democrats are losing the messaging war on the government shutdown.
Vice President JD Vance is among those who have strongly pushed back against the left blaming the shutdown on Republicans.
“Nearly every single House Republican voted to open the government, Matt,” Vance told Breitbart News during a press conference last week.
RELATED — JD Vance Debunks Democrats Shutdown LIES
“Nearly every single Senate Republican voted to open the government last night, and even to their credit, a few moderate Democrats voted to open the government. That’s not a Republican shutdown when nearly every single Senate Democrat votes to shut it down and every Republican voted to open it up,” he continued.
“Now you can disagree about a number of things, but you can’t disagree about the obvious fact that Republicans voted to open the government. The President stands ready to sign that opening of the government. We just need a few more Democrats to join us in that effort to open the government,” Vance continued, adding that if one looks at the legislative text that Democrats gave them, “they tried to turn on two separate provisions that would give healthcare benefits to illegal aliens.”
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