Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana told Fox News host Martha MacCallum Friday that he prayed for patience after hearing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s latest demands to end the government shutdown.
Schumer said during a Friday speech on the Senate floor that Democrats would agree to end the shutdown, now in its 37th day, if Republicans would agree to extend certain enhanced subsidies for Obamacare passed during the COVID-19 pandemic for one year. Kennedy dismissed Schumer’s offer during an appearance on “The Story,” saying the extension wouldn’t solve the problem or guarantee lower insurance premiums.
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“God, please give me patience, because if, if you give me strength, I’m going to need bail money,” Kennedy told MacCallum, who chuckled. “What Sen. Schumer is suggesting is that we do the dumbest thing possible that won’t work. Stupid should hurt more. Sen. Schumer says we should just extend the status quo for a year. What does that mean? That means that we would have to take $35 billion of taxpayer money and give it directly to the health insurance companies without any commitment of lowering premiums. How is that going to reduce health care costs? How’s that going to reduce premiums?”
“The health care companies are going to take $35 billion from the taxpayers and put it into their pockets. I mean, duh!” Kennedy continued. “I don’t know what Sen. Schumer is thinking. Earth to Chuck, I mean, Earth to Chuck. Am I going to vote for this? The short answer is no. The long answer is hell, no. I think we’re just going to have to get used to the fact that we’ve been in a shutdown, we’re going to be in a shutdown for a while. I voted 14 times to lift the shutdown. The Democrats and Sen. Rand Paul have voted 14 times to keep the government shutdown. We’re just going to be here for a while.”
Schumer’s comments on the Senate floor were met with immediate rejection from other Senate Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
“They’re feeling the heat, and they know that their last proposal was unserious and unrealistic, so I guess you can characterize that as progress, but I just don’t think that it gets anywhere close to what we need to do here, and they know it,” Thune told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“Democrats are ready to clear the way to quickly pass a government funding bill that includes health care affordability,” Schumer said on during his Senate floor speech. “Leader Thune just needs to add a clean one-year extension of the ACA tax credits to the CR so that we can immediately address rising health care costs.”
Thune calls the Dems’ offer a “nonstarter,” says the Obamacare extension is the negotiation that will happen once the government is open.
“They’re feeling the heat, and they know that their last proposal was unserious and unrealistic, so I guess you can characterize that as…
— Andi Shae Napier (@AndiNapier) November 7, 2025
Schumer claimed in comments to Punchbowl News on Oct. 9 that “every day gets better for us” as the shutdown dragged on. Democrats have blocked the continuing resolution 14 times, with another vote scheduled for Friday.
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