CNBC’s Joe Kernen clashed with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on “Squawk Box” on Wednesday, directly challenging the Democratic Party’s rationale for shutting down the government over a lack of Affordable Care Act subsidies and tax cuts passed in a recent Republican-led bill.
The government shut down on October 1 after Democrats refused to support a spending bill that did not extend Biden-era ACA subsidies and failed to repeal tax cuts included in the “big, beautiful bill” passed by the Republican-controlled Congress in July.
Kernen leveled a pointed criticism at the Democrats, arguing that their actions set a “bad precedent” by effectively holding government workers’ paychecks hostage to demand the undoing of duly passed legislation.
READ: Schumer Taunts As Day 9 Of Shutdown Plunges Military Families, Workers Into ‘Financial Ruin’
“There was an election and the Republicans were put in a position where they were able to pass the ‘big, beautiful bill,'” Kernen stated. “To then say we don’t like any of that so we’re gonna shut down the government until you take back all the things that you duly passed through legislation… If Republicans had tried to do that to the Inflation Reduction Act… you would be going crazy.”
A Hypocrisy ‘Shutdown’
Kernen continued his critique, emphasizing the perceived double standard. “You’d be going crazy about using the shutdown of the government on a continuing resolution to get what you want just because you don’t like what the Republicans did,” he said. He further noted that the House had already passed the measure being disputed.
In response, Jeffries attempted to shift the blame, asserting that the Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress, are the ones choosing to keep the government closed by refusing to negotiate.
“They’ve made the decision to shut the government down. And they could reopen it right now if they chose to,” Jeffries claimed. When pressed by Kernen on how they could do that, Jeffries simply reiterated, “The reality is they want to keep the government closed, cruelty from the very beginning of this administration has been the point.”
READ: Mamdani-Aligned Chi Ossé Eyes Primary Challenge Against Dem Leader Hakeem Jeffries
The ‘Clean CR’ Dispute
The debate also touched on the nature of the spending resolution itself. House Speaker Mike Johnson has maintained that Congress can debate the Obamacare tax credit extension after passing the continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government.
Jeffries, along with other key Democrats like former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has repeatedly claimed that the funding bill is not a “clean CR”—a temporary bill that maintains existing spending levels. However, this claim appears to be contradicted by non-partisan analysis. The Committee for a Responsible Budget stated that the resolution was “as clean of a C.R. as you could get,” according to The New York Times.
The impasse leaves thousands of government workers without pay and highlights the bitter, post-election legislative conflict over funding the government.
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