As the shutdown continues, more Americans on government assistance run the risk of losing benefits and possibly going hungry. U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) said Wednesday on Fox Business Network that it’s all a part of Democrats’ strategy to try to leverage for a better position in the midterm elections, all at the expense of taxpayers.
“They’re holding the American people hostage because they want leverage. Leverage in the next election. Liz, this is a crime what they’re doing,” Tuberville said.
Democrats have been holding out for an extension on Obamacare subsidies, while the House and Senate Republicans have put forward a clean continuing resolution to reopen the government.
“We can’t give them what they want because it’s $1.5 trillion more than we’re spending now, and we’re already spending $2 trillion more than we should. So, you can’t give them something that we don’t have. You can’t get blood out of a turnip,” Coach continued. “So, at the end of the day, these people have lost their minds. It’s not going to pass. We’re going to stay shut down because, at the end of the day, we don’t have the money to do what they want to do.”
Tuberville said Democrats were following the lead of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who may be trying to raise some clout with his base to stave off a primary challenge.
“They’re playing politics with people’s lives,” Tuberville said. “We are willing to vote for the CR that they voted for, as you said, 13 times. Let’s get this over with. Negotiate a little bit as we go through November, December, hopefully get a full CR for the next year because we’re not going to get a budget all the way through the midterms.”
He added, “A lot of this is about Obamacare. It’s been a disaster for 12 years. We have a really a health care system that’s on the verge of collapse because of the expense and high cost. And why is that? Because the government has subsidized all this for years, and now the chickens are coming home to roost. We have no money. And so, they own this. They passed this Obamacare nonsense. They said it’s affordable. It could be done. It can’t be done. We’ve got to get some kind of health care system that’s going to work in this country. And the American taxpayers don’t need to be paying for health care for illegal aliens. They’ve just destroyed it from the inside out. Liz, it’s a disaster.”
