Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York changed the subject after MSNBC host Chris Hayes asked Tuesday if she had threatened to launch a primary challenge to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
The Senate failed to pass a seven-week continuing resolution on Tuesday, falling short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a Democratic filibuster after the House passed the short-term funding bill on Sept. 19. Hayes asked Ocasio-Cortez about Schumer’s tactics and her rumored primary challenge in 2028.
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“There are some people I have seen who have the following theory of why we — why Senate Democrats have not cut a deal where they give eight votes and, you know, move, move along and that is that Chuck Schumer is worried about a primary challenge from you and is worried about the politics to his left flank,” Hayes said. “And so because of that worry about a primary challenge, he’s going to shut down the government. Ergo, it is AOC’s fault that the government is shutting down or that you’re — that you’re somehow the fulcrum of this. And I want to just ask you straight up, like, are you planning to primary challenge him? Do you think that’s why he’s doing this?”
“This is so not about me in this moment. This is about people being able to ensure their children — and I will say, because I saw some senators speculating about this, and I saw some Republican members of Congress saying, ‘Oh, well, if we have this shutdown, it’s because of AOC,’” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Well, if that’s the case, my office is open and you are free to walk in and negotiate with me directly, because what I’m not going to do is tolerate 4 million uninsured Americans because Donald Trump decided one day that he wants to just make sure that kids are dying because they don’t have access to insurance. That’s what’s not going to happen.”
Schumer came under fire from left-wing media figures and Democrats in Congress over his decision to help pass a GOP-backed spending bill to prevent a government shutdown in March. Democrats have demanded over $1 trillion in funding for various priorities, including restoring funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CBP), which will shut down after its funding was clawed back in a rescissions package passed in July.
“If those senators think that we’re having a shutdown because of me, they’re free to enter my office and negotiate, because what we’re not going to do is allow all of millions of people in this country to not be able to afford their insulin and their chemotherapy,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “So come strike a deal with me, if that’s what they really think is going on.”
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