CNN host Jake Tapper on Sunday asked Democratic Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy whether his party was prepared to let food stamp funding run dry to force an extension of expiring Obamacare subsidies.
Democrats have refused to back any federal government funding deal which excludes an extension of Obamacare subsidies, triggering the Oct. 1 shutdown after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer rallied his caucus to block a bipartisan bill. When Murphy appeared on “State of the Union,” Tapper asked if Democrats were willing to let Americans go hungry until Obamacare subsidies are extended.
“Funding for food stamps is expected to run out at the end of this week. This is happening because Democrats have not agreed to vote to fund the government without the Republicans making concessions to seriously change health care policy. So is this a trade-off you’re willing to make and continue to make, letting some Americans go hungry until these Obamacare subsidies get extended?” Tapper asked Murphy.
Murphy dodged the direct question and instead accused Republicans of stonewalling bipartisan talks.
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“We’re shut down right now because Republicans are refusing to even talk to Democrats about a bipartisan budget bill,” Murphy claimed. “As you know, the reason we didn’t shut down for four years when Joe Biden was president was because Democrats negotiated with Republicans, and every single one of those short-term or long-term funding bills included both Democratic and Republican priorities. So the government shut down because Republicans have done something unprecedented: they have refused to talk to Democrats about a bipartisan budget.”
The Connecticut senator also defended his party’s stance by saying health care subsidies are essential.
“One of our priorities is pretty simple: making sure that premiums don’t go up by 75% for 22 million families this fall. Now, the reality is, if they sat down to try to negotiate, we could probably come up with something pretty quickly,” Murphy said.
President Donald Trump initially canceled a planned meeting with top Democrats, just days before the shutdown deadline. The two sides eventually met at the White House, but the talks ended without a deal as both parties remained divided over extending Obamacare subsidies.
Murphy then cited the administration’s recent $20 billion aid package to Argentina as proof the government had room to maneuver.
“The president just announced $20 billion going to bail out the Argentinian economy. For $20 billion, we could open the government back up, that’s enough money to relieve a lot of pressure from these premium increases,” Murphy added. “We could get this deal done in a day if the president was in D.C. rather than overseas. We could open up the government on Tuesday or Wednesday, and there wouldn’t be any crisis in the food.”
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides food aid to over 40 million Americans, will lose funding Nov. 1 without congressional action. Over two dozen states have warned they will halt benefits by then if the shutdown continues.
Senate Democrats have continued to block every Republican effort to end the shutdown, with Schumer leading his caucus in repeated filibusters. They’ve made clear they won’t support any funding deal which leaves out an extension of Obamacare subsidies and other Democratic priorities.
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