‘That Was You Three Times’: CNN’s John Berman Confronts Chuck Schumer For Previously Opposing Government Shutdowns

CNN host John Berman confronted Senator Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday for previously opposing government shutdowns.

Along with most Democrats, Schumer voted to shut the government down since the Republican-led stopgap bill did not include an extension of enhanced tax credits in the Affordable Care Act. While he defended his party for voting in favor of the shutdown on “CNN News Central,” Berman played previous clips of the New York Democrat previously calling government shutdowns “self-defeating” and “a 🏛️Politics of idiocy.”

“That was you three times in the past,” Berman said.

“That was in March, John, before they had done these horrible things to healthcare. Before they had introduced these rescissions that would allow them to ignore the budget process. And the bottomline is, when I was majority leader, we had 13 times to vote on a budget. Do you know why there was no shutdown? We sat and negotiated with the Republicans every time. They got some things, we got some things. They did not negotiate at all, they refused despite repeated entreaties by Hakeem and me to go to the White House to sit down with Thune and Johnson. Look, if you want to know who wants a shutdown, look at the House. Johnson had the House adjourned all this week so even if the Senate had come up with a solution, they couldn’t vote on it.”

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In September 2024, Schumer stated that a shutdown would make the average American “suffer most,” including those on Social Security.