Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez denied during an MSNBC interview Tuesday evening that she was responsible for Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer’s decision not to support a GOP stopgap funding measure, allowing the federal government to shut down.
She did, however, step up to support Democrats who have demanded an extension of Obamacare subsidies to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars, which Republicans have dismissed as a non-starter.
Her remarks came after host Chris Hayes noted that rumors are flying on Capitol Hill that Schumer is blocking the funding bill in an attempt to appease the Democratic Party’s growing left-wing base, of which ‘AOC’ is a part, out of fear she will primary him in 2028.
“So let me ask you this. There are some people I have seen who have the following theory of why Senate Democrats have not cut a deal where they give eight votes and, you know, move, move along. And that is that Chuck Schumer is worried about a primary challenge from you and is worried about the politics to his left flank. And so because of that, worry about a primary challenge. He’s going to shut down the government,” Hayes began.
“Ergo, it is aoc’s fault that the government is shutting down or that your that you’re somehow the fulcrum of this. And I want to just ask you straight up, like, are you planning to primary challenge him? Do you think that’s why he’s doing this?” he asked.
“This is so not about me in this moment. This is about people being able to insure their children. And I will say, because I saw some senators speculating about this, and I saw some Republican members of Congress saying, Oh, well, if we have this shutdown, it’s because of AOC,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
“Well, if that’s the case, my office is open and you are free to walk in and negotiate with me directly, because what I’m not going to do is tolerate 4 million uninsured Americans, because Donald Trump decided one day that he wants to just make sure that kids are dying because they don’t have access to insurance. That’s what’s not going to happen,” she claimed without offering any hard data to support her statement.
“And so if those senators think that we’re having a shutdown because of me, they’re free to enter my office and negotiate, because what we’re not going to do is allow all of millions of people in this country to not be able to afford their insulin and their chemotherapy. So come strike a deal with me, if that’s what they really think is going on,” the Bronx Democrat said.
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Three members of the Senate Democratic caucus broke with Schumer (N.Y.) on Tuesday and voted for a House Republican-drafted bill to fund the government through Nov. 21, showing that Democrats disagree on how hard to go after the Trump administration.
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), who is part of the Senate Democratic leadership team, voted for the GOP funding proposal together with Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Senator Angus King (Maine), an independent who works with Democrats.
The measure failed 55-45, even though it needed 60 votes to move forward.
Republicans will be introducing the bill again on Wednesday for a vote, where some believe even more Democrats could flip and pass the bill to reopen the government, which would be a brutal blow to Schumer.
Cortez Masto claimed she didn’t want to make things worse for her voters who are already having a hard time with rising costs and a faltering economy by putting the government at risk of shutting down.
“This administration doesn’t care about Nevadans, but I do. That’s why I cannot support a costly shutdown that would hurt Nevada families and hand even more power to this reckless administration,” she said in a statement.