Claire McCaskill: If Dems End Up Being the Reason that the Government Shuts Down, that Muddles Their Message

BRZEZINSKI: “In response to the cuts, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is calling on Democrats to vote no on the Stopgap bill. If all Democrats vote against the measure, Speaker Johnson will only be able to afford to lose one vote, as Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky has already said he plans to vote no on the package. President Trump, for his part, is ramping up a pressure campaign on Republicans, writing on social media, quote — quote, ‘All Republicans should vote yes next week. Great things are coming for America, and I am asking you all to give us a few months to get through to September so we can continue to put the country’s financial house in order.’ Claire McCaskill, are great things on the way, especially with the economy?”
McCaskill: “Yeah, I mean, listen, I think everybody — the messaging here is a little muddled for the Democrats, because it’s very important that Democrats don’t stand in the way of cutting wasteful spending. But the way these guys are doing it, they’re not cutting fat, they’re basically breaking bones of government service to America. And it is so haphazard. It is so without merit. It is so unfair. And people are going to start feeling it. That’s a separate issue than whether or not they’re going to pass this continuing resolution that basically pushes the ball down the field, doesn’t do anything really except extend current funding. And here’s the other problem that Democrats have. If they end up being the reason that the government shuts down, that muddles their message that, in fact, it’s the Trump Administration that is trying to shut down your government services like Social Security, like Medicaid, like veterans benefits. So I predict, like all other CR drama, that they will pass a CR this week and they will continue the current levels of government funding until September. But then the train wreck comes, Mika. Then they have to cut Medicaid to give rich people a tax cut. And people don’t realize what Medicaid does. I think people have in their mind Medicaid is just for poor people in the cities. The majority of people — there are more people on Medicaid in rural America than urban America. And children — almost 40 percent of the children in America are getting funding from Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program, which is part of the Medicaid program. So that’s where you’re really going to see a problem for the Republicans, because they’re going to basically take a knife to the very areas that put them in the White House and in Congress.”