Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) released a fiery video on Tuesday slamming President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress over the federal government shutdown.
In the video, Schumer accused Republicans in Congress of “taking health care away” from Americans and causing the federal government shutdown. He defended the Democrats’ decision to oppose any GOP spending bill that does not include an extension for Obamacare subsidies that are expiring at the end of the year.
“So now government is shut down, and you may be asking yourself, ‘How the hell did we get here?’Donald Trump and the Republican Party are hellbent on taking health care away from 60 million people, closing community clinics, rural hospitals, nursing homes, all so they can keep giving tax breaks to their billionaire friends,” he said in the video. “It’s a disgrace.”
So Democrats have three words for this: No f—ing way. It’s literally life or death. We will not let Republicans blow up our health care system,” he added.
Schumer then ripped Republicans for trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) signed under former President Barack Obama before criticizing the “Big Beautiful Bill” signed by Trump earlier this year.
“If Republicans are consistent about anything, it’s about taking away health care from as many of you as possible. Let’s dive into the facts. The so called ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ which is really a ‘big, ugly betrayal,’ cuts a trillion dollars from health care and causes the ACA credits to expire, insurance premiums will go up 93%. As a result, 22 million people pay more, 4 million lose coverage altogether,” he said.
“And even if you don’t have ACA, your premiums are going up also. What does it mean in New York? $2,500 increase for those on ACA working families can’t afford that, and 450,000 people lose their health care. This is not about politics. It’s about people,” he added.
Schumer concluded by blaming Republicans for the government shutdown.
“Donald Trump and the Republicans have chosen to shut down the government rather than work with us to defuse the ticking time bomb that will blow up health care millions of Americans,” Schumer said. “Congressional Democrats are on the side of the American people, and together, we will fight to make this right.”
It’s not clear how long the government shutdown will last, as both Democrats and Republicans show no signs of budging.
While Trump has blamed the Democrats for the shutdown, Americans are more likely to say Republicans and Trump are responsible for the stalemate.
Thirty-nine percent of Americans blamed Trump and GOP lawmakers for the shutdown in a new CBS News/YouGov poll, while 30% blamed Democrats in Congress. Another 31% said they blamed both groups equally.
The poll also showed net negative approval ratings for Trump and members of Congress on their handling of the shutdown so far.
The poll found that just 32% of Americans approved of how Trump was handling the shutdown. Another 28% approved of how Republicans in Congress were handling it and 27% approved of how Democrats in Congress were handling it.
Meanwhile, Trump and congressional Republicans each received a 52% disapproval rating on how they were addressing the shutdown. And 49% of Americans disapproved of how congressional Democrats were addressing the situation, according to the poll.