Republicans and Democrats are now both blasting Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) over a plan by the Democratic leader to keep the government shut down at least until a left-wing rally scheduled for Oct. 18 in Washington, D.C., is held.
Two of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet secretaries indicated that Democrats are keeping the government closed so that “No Kings” mass rallies can happen on Saturday, October 18.
The comments are similar to what House Republicans have said, blaming Democrats for the closure that has been going on for two weeks. They believe Democrats wanted to keep the government closed until after the protests so they could show party activists that they are fighting back against the Trump administration.
In criticizing the rallies, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said: “’No Kings’ means no paychecks, no paychecks and no government.”
Liberal groups have said that elected Democrats aren’t doing enough in Congress to stop Trump’s changes to the federal government.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told Fox he expected millions of attendees will be “part of antifa, paid protesters. It begs the question (of) who’s funding it.”
Duffy accused the protesters of dictating the actions of Democratic leaders.
“Democrats want to wait for a big rally of a No Kings protest when the bottom line is, who is running the show in the Senate?” Duffy said.
“Chuck Schumer’s not running the show,” he said of Schumer. “The No Kings protesters or organizers are running the show.”
On Oct. 10, several congressional Republicans referred to the protests as “hate America” rallies and accused Democrats of keeping the government closed at the request of activists.
Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman voiced criticism of his own party over the ongoing government shutdown, saying Democrats are sending the “wrong message” in their handling of the budget impasse.
“Shutting our government down. That’s the wrong message for the world, for Americans as well, too. I don’t care whose that blame is. It’s not about a blame game. It’s about opening this government, having this conversation, and literally let’s address these kinds of healthcare issues as well too,” Fetterman said.
Fetterman said he will “never” support a government shutdown, criticizing lawmakers who refuse to negotiate and urging both parties to reach an agreement to end the stalemate.
“It was wrong if the Republicans did these things, and I led that charge back in March, saying it’s wrong to shut us down, and we kept it open. I said then, back in March, that, when September comes, I’m going to be the one guy that’s saying it is wrong to do this,” he said.
“Really, the losers are these poor Americans here that are going to get caught in the middle of this thing. I fully support [having] a conversation about extending those [Obamacare] tax credits. I think a lot of Republicans might even agree with that too,” he said.
“That’s a priority for us, and they might agree, but let’s get our government open and have that conversation, so people can get paid, and we can’t have this kind of chaos,” he continued.
Since the government shutdown began on October 1, both parties have engaged in mutual blame.
Republicans have labeled the budget impasse the “Schumer shutdown,” while Democrats have demanded that Republicans and President Trump agree to extend Obamacare tax credits, which are set to expire at the end of the year.
Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine joined Sen. John Fetterman in voting for the Republican-backed stopgap funding bill aimed at keeping the government open.
The measure requires 60 votes to advance, leaving Republicans five votes short of the threshold needed for passage.