The ongoing government shutdown, now stalled over a Republican spending bill that was voted down by Senate Democrats, is less about policy and more about the internal politics of the Democratic caucus, according to Louisiana Republican Senator John Kennedy.
Appearing on Fox Business, Kennedy offered a blunt prediction: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer will ultimately be forced to orchestrate a back-channel deal to end the funding impasse.
“It will end eventually, when Senator Schumer goes to six or eight of his members and Democrats and says, ‘Do me a favor. Vote to open it back up… I need an offer. And that’s what’s going to happen,” Kennedy told host Larry Kudlow.
The Senator was quick to add a cautionary note for the Minority Leader. “But he’s got to be careful because if it looks contrived, he’s boned. And he can’t look like he’s having a mutiny.”
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Appeasing the ‘Loon Wing’
Kennedy painted Schumer’s current strategy as an attempt to appease what he derisively called the “loon wing” or “socialist wing” of the Democratic Party, which he claims is currently in control.
“I know him. Well, this shutdown is not about policy. It’s about politics,” Kennedy insisted. “He is trying to get the loon wing… to love him. And they will never love him.”
The Senator argued that Schumer’s position—keeping the government shut down unless Republicans agree to a massive $1.5 trillion in spending—is untenable.
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Holding Government ‘Hostage’ Over ‘Wasteful’ Foreign Spending
On the Senate floor Friday, Kennedy had accused Democrats of holding the government “hostage” to restore millions in what he characterized as wasteful foreign projects that Republicans had already removed from the spending bill.
He detailed several line items that he claimed the far-left wing of the Democratic Party is demanding be reinstated, including funding for:
- $3.6 million for cooking and dance workshops for male prostitutes in Haiti.
- Over $4.2 million for LGBTQ projects in the Western Balkans and Uganda.
- $6 million to subsidize Palestinian media outlets.
- $3 million for circumcision and vasectomies in Zambia.
- More than $833,000 for transgender people in Nepal.
- $500,000 to purchase electric buses in Rwanda.
- $300,000 to sponsor a pride parade in Lesotho.
According to Kennedy, Schumer “would be better off” just calling the situation as he sees it and working to keep the government open, rather than trying to satisfy a faction he believes will never offer him their support.
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