Democrats’ obstruction of President Donald Trump’s agenda, using this record-long government shutdown as “leverage” to foist “hunger” on Americans — designed to blame him for it — is “painful spin” that must end, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., said Sunday.
“This is the spin,” Lankford told NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” “Literally, this is the painful spin that people across the country are like: ‘I am so sick of the politics and the spin. Just fix the problem.'”
Lankford reminded liberal media, like “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker, and Democrat obstructionists that “14 times we voted to reopen the government.”
“Two weeks ago we brought a bill that would fully fund SNAP for the entire year; last week we brought a bill that would just pay our federal employees: Democrats voted no, no, no, no every single time because the goal for them is leverage,” Lankford lamented.
“If you listened to the things they say over and over again — people are suffering and that gives us more leverage in our debate here — listen, people don’t want leverage.
“They want to get access to food, and I would only say President Trump diverted tariff revenue into the WIC funding — women, infants and children funding — to be able to make sure the program stays solid.
“The problem with SNAP is you would have to take it away from the disaster if a hurricane comes in or the lunch program. So it’s a terrible choice. Take it away from the school lunch program or take it away from SNAP.”
Anti-Trump narratives blaming the shutdown on the administration have a simple rebuttal, according to Lankford.
“Just open the government,” he said. “That’s the solution.”
Lankford accused Democrats of keeping the government closed as a political show of defiance against Trump rather than negotiating in good faith.
“This is six weeks of us doing the same thing we’ve done every single time we reached this point during the Biden administration,” he said.
“Democrats are determined to keep the government shut down. This was about Democrats saying they want to show their resistance to President Trump. They want to show they’re fighting.”
The narratives leave Americans behind — all for Democrats’ obstruction of Trump, Lankford warned.
“The problem is people are getting hurt on this,” he added. “People aren’t getting on flights and they can’t get SNAP benefits.”
Still, Lankford expects the government to reopen “by Thanksgiving,” but added it “needs to be open today.”
The GOP has offered 14 proposals to restart operations while continuing policy negotiations, he noted.
Ultimately, the shutdown is about the Democrats’ planned expiration of Obamacare subsidies baked into their plan, and Trump is calling on fixing the failures of former President Barack Obama’s signature health care plan.
“His statement wasn’t to eliminate Obamacare; his statement was very clear — why are we sending money to insurance companies?” Lankford told Welker.
“The president’s proposal was straightforward: Stop sending money to insurance companies, and give Americans freedom of choice.”
Lankford said Obamacare “is health care in America” now and must be fixed, not repealed, with reforms that benefit all 320 million Americans rather than “targeting 20 million people” through temporary COVID-era subsidies.
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