VP Vance Condemns Democrats For Taking Critical Services ‘Hostage’ Over Policy Dispute
The federal government officially shut down at midnight, and the fallout has begun, with Vice President JD Vance placing the blame squarely on a “far left faction of the Senate Democrats” for the funding impasse.
Speaking on CBS on Wednesday morning, Vance condemned the Democrats’ refusal to pass a temporary funding measure, which led to the shutdown.
“First of all, why are we in this position? We’re in this position because Senate Democrats decided that they were going to shut down the government, despite the fact that the house voted to keep the government open,” Vance stated.
He was quick to credit moderate members of the opposition, noting, “It’s actually not all Senate Democrats, to their great credit. A number of moderate Democrats voted with Republicans to keep the government open last night. Unfortunately, it was one faction of one branch of government, the far left faction of the Senate Democrats who decided to shut down the people’s government.”
The shutdown, which occurred after Senate Democrats voted against a short-term funding bill demanding the inclusion of expiring Obamacare tax credits and healthcare for those in the country illegally, is now poised to impact critical government functions.
Vance warned of immediate and severe consequences for the American people. He highlighted that essential services and personnel would suffer due to the Democrats taking “hostage” the government over a policy disagreement.
“Services that the people rely on that are going to suffer,” Vance said. “There are people who benefit from low-income food programs, families like mine benefited from those programs, so we’re going to see those programs disappear.”
The Vice President also pointed to impacts on travelers and the military. “There are people, of course, who are flying today should know that if their flight is delayed, I hope it’s not, but it may have something to do with the fact that our TSA agents and our air traffic controllers are no longer getting paid. Our military is no longer getting paid.”
Responding to questions about potential mass layoffs, Vance reiterated the administration’s stance.
“We don’t want to lay anybody off. We were sort of dealt this hand by that faction of Senate Democrats who shut down the government,” he said. While pledging the administration would work to keep as much of the government “open or functional as possible,” Vance acknowledged the inevitable consequences. “There’s going to be some pain, and there’s necessarily going to be some pain because Senate Democrats refuse to reopen the government. We hope that they’ll change their minds in the days to come.”
The political standoff began on Tuesday evening when the Senate funding measure failed 55-45, five votes short of the 60 required. Senators John Fetterman (D-PA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), and Angus King (I-ME) broke with their caucus to vote in favor of the measure, prioritizing continued government operations over their party’s leadership demands.
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