Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders appeared on MSNBC Thursday and accused President Donald Trump of engineering the current government shutdown to consolidate power.
Lawmakers triggered a federal government shutdown at midnight Wednesday after the Senate fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance a House-passed stopgap funding bill in a 55–45 vote. During an interview on “All In With Chris Hayes,” Sanders slammed what he said was Trump’s role in the ongoing impasse, calling him a “megalomaniac” driven by personal ambition and surrounded by “oligarchic friends.”
“Well, you’ve got a president who is acting in an unprecedented way — who is a megalomaniac, who wants more and more power for himself and his oligarchic friends,” Sanders said. “And I want everybody to understand that, at least for me — and I think for many others in Congress — one of the key aspects of this whole shutdown debate is the Senate rules.”
Sanders accused Republicans of abandoning decades of precedent in the Senate by refusing to negotiate on a government funding deal.
“Republicans need 60 votes — that’s been the case for decades. The point of that rule is bipartisanship, negotiation. You need eight Democratic votes. OK. How do we work together to keep the government open? Republicans, for the first time in modern history, have chosen not to negotiate. They are saying it’s their way or the highway. That is not acceptable,” Sanders added.
Sanders said the shutdown isn’t just a political dispute.
“And I want everybody to understand that if we do not make changes and fight back effectively, you’re going to see 15 million Americans lose their health insurance through cuts to Medicaid and the ACA. According to studies, 50,000 Americans die each year. That’s what’s at stake,” Sanders said. (RELATED: ‘This Is The Kind Of Journalism We Don’t Need’: Maxine Waters Snaps When Asked About Healthcare For Illegal Immigrants)
Democrats tied their support for a stopgap funding bill to the continuation of expanded Obamacare subsidies, saying Republicans are trying to take health care away from working Americans. Democratic leaders rejected any short-term funding bill that left out the extension, while Republicans proposed their own package and blamed Democrats for using the shutdown as political leverage.
Trump met with congressional leaders Monday but walked away without a deal, as Democrats pushed for health care concessions, and Republicans demanded a clean extension. He previously canceled a planned meeting with top Democrats, dismissing their demands as “unserious and ridiculous.”
