Democratic Oregon Rep. Janelle Bynum could not explain on Thursday why she voted against a clean continuing resolution (CR) that Democrats had previously passed in order to keep the government open.
Bynum disputed that the Republicans’ funding bill was a clean CR, despite it not having included any policy changes or conditions. She claimed on CSPAN’s “The Washington Journal” that she does not “play politics” and claimed that Republicans put an unspecified “extra stuff” in the legislation.
“I don’t play politics. I want a clean bill that focuses on the American people and make sure kids have a full belly and you know all of the clean this, clean that. Americans don’t understand that. They know if they have their benefits or not. So, put a bill on the table, make sure it’s very pure and clean as they like to say, and it doesn’t have a whole lot of fluff in it. I’m not here for games, I just want to make sure kids get fed.”
The host then clarified that the Republicans did put forth a clean CR.
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“I disagree with your characterization and want to make sure that we’re very clear about what Republicans have been doing. Any bill that they’ve put forth, they’ve always had some extra stuff to it. There’s always been a poison pill to it. So I disagree with your characterization,” Bynum continued.
Bynum could not specify what “fluff” was put into the CR or how the funding bill is not clean.
Before the shutdown began on Oct. 1, Democrats struggled to pinpoint exactly what they disliked about the CR as they promised to vote against it. Democratic Sens. Adam Schiff of California, Raphael Warnock of Georgia, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and others could not name a specific provision that they were against during discussions with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Democrats argued that they voted to shut the government down since the CR did not include extensions to Biden-era subsidies in the Affordable Care Act that are set to expire. House Speaker Mike Johnson said that Congress can debate extensions on these tax credits once they fund the government.
Democratic Sens. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Independent Sen. Angus King, who caucuses with Democrats, voted to keep the government open. Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul voted for the shutdown due to its lack of spending cuts.
Republicans’ approval ratings have risen since the shutdown, including among independents, CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten revealed on Tuesday. The overall approval rating for Republicans jumped by 2 points and by 5 points for congressional Republicans.
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