Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) said that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell could have passed funding for the CHIP any time in the last few months, but instead, McConnell has chosen to play games with a government shutdown.
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Brown said, “I don’t know what’s happened with senator hatch. I think he’s just doing the bidding of the far right. He’s always afraid of a primary in Utah, the far right against the far far right. I think he’s also trying to do the bidding of Senator Mcconnell, who could have teed up CHIP anytime. We were talking about consent request, go to the floor and do this. We could have passed CHIP Any day in the last four months close to unanimously, maybe five no votes, and done it. What’s happened, when a bunch of members of Congress who get health insurance paid for by government don’t do their job so that people can get insurance and whether it was taking away the affordable care act, for Medicaid, 200,000 — I’m sorry, 600,000 Medicaid beneficiaries in Ohio. And senator hatch in his leadership didn’t seem to care. So we know this is a game they’re playing. Again, come to sherrodbrown.com, sign up, say, Mitch Mcconnell, quit playing games. Don’t shut the government down. Let’s do this. We can do this in the next three or four days.
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Democrats aren’t falling for the GOP’s CHIP stunt
If Republicans were serious about CHIP, DACA, the opioid crisis, or funding community health centers they could have accomplished any and all of these goals with little controversy. Despite what the far right suggests, DACA has broad bipartisan support. Democrats have all of the leverage, and they are putting up a reasonable front by requesting a 3-4 day CR so that negotiations can continue.
Trump and his Congressional majority don’t want negotiations to continue. They want a shutdown. Republicans believe that a government shutdown will help them with their base and give them a boost heading into the midterms.
Sen. Brown was right. Mitch McConnell is playing games, and if the government shuts down, the wrath of voters will come down on both McConnell and Trump.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
