Monday on CNN’s “The Source,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) said “so many” Republicans had come over to the Democrats to agree they were right to fight to extend health care subsidies to illegal aliens to reopen the government.
Host Kaitlan Collins said, “We are here on Capitol Hill tonight. I mean, this is a very strange government shutdown that has continued to drag on. It doesn’t seem that much has changed. Senate Democrats voted again tonight to not pass that funding bill that Republicans have been putting up for a vote and putting up for a vote and putting up for a vote. It feels like shampoo bottle directions at this point, but a lot of people are caught in the middle of this. And so I wonder, you know, in terms of how long this strategy from you and your colleagues is going to go on, how long do you think that can last?”
Merkely said, “It’s the Republican strategy of saying, we’re not going to address this health care crisis. And just over the last few days, many states have put out their prices on health care for the next year on the exchange, it’s more than doubling across the nation. On average a lot of folks won’t be able to afford insurance. even a lot of folks who buy off the exchange are going to see double digit increases in their premiums.”
He added, “We have had so many Republicans come over to us and say, we know how hard this is hitting. And by the way, 75% of those folks affected, those are in states Trump won. So they’re coming over and saying, we don’t want this to happen to our constituents. This was a bad deal that we did. and we say, we’ll go to your leadership and tell them to sit down and start negotiating.”
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