President Donald Trump is calling on Republicans to get rid of the Senate filibuster to end the government shutdown—but many in his party are pushing back.
00:00I talked to the president multiple times over the weekend, I mentioned, and of course, the filibuster came up.
00:05This is a Senate matter. It has nothing to do with the House. Everybody wants to know what my opinion is.
00:08I mean, my opinion is irrelevant. I understand desperate times call for desperate measures.
00:14I also understand that traditionally we've seen that as an important safeguard.
00:17I mean, I've obviously shared my thoughts with the president on that.
00:21As much as I have wanted to blow up the filibuster sometime as a House member when we were not getting what we wanted done in our agenda,
00:28I hear my Senate Republican colleagues, some of the most conservative people in Congress,
00:36who say it's an important safeguard. It prevents us. It holds us back from the Democrats' worst impulses.
00:44This is a very important matter. It's something that we're giving all of our attention to.
00:48Our leaders will go and meet on the calendar right now. We watch it every day.
00:52But the simplest way to get all these issues resolved, health care, everything else, to get it all finished up for the year,
01:01is for them to reopen the government and make sure people are not hurting instead of Democrats over here playing political games to cover their own backside.
01:08I hope the election tomorrow is a change, a sea change in all this.
01:13I hope that after everybody votes and they go in their room and they make the calculation that, well, maybe we won't have to hold that line anymore.
01:19Maybe they won't punish us. Maybe it won't affect turnout in our states in these elections.
01:25Maybe after tomorrow they'll come to their common senses again and do the right thing.
01:30We certainly pray that is true.
01:31The urgency, as far as I'm concerned, for Democrats is that we need to reopen the government.
01:38We need to find a bipartisan path forward to enacting a spending agreement that actually makes life better for the American people.
01:45But we also have to decisively address the Republican health care crisis.
01:50In a year where Republicans have enacted the largest cut to Medicaid in American history,
01:58almost a trillion dollars ripped away from more than 14 million Americans,
02:04hospitals, nursing homes, and community-based health centers are closing all across the country
02:08because of Republican policies and what they did in their one big ugly bill.
02:13As we find ourselves now in open enrollment, tens of millions of Americans are experiencing dramatically increased premiums,
02:21co-pays, and deductibles because Republicans are unwilling to find a dime
02:25to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits for working class, middle class, and everyday Americans.
02:33That's why Democrats have been in this fight, to make sure that we are delivering for the American people,
02:41lowering the high cost of living and addressing the Republican health care crisis.
02:46And it should be done with urgency now.
02:49But Mike Johnson and Republicans on Capitol Hill who don't work for the American people,
02:56they just work for Donald Trump.
02:58He's their boss, have canceled votes now for six consecutive weeks.
Be the first to comment