Joco Today

On Saturday, U.S. Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas appeared on Fox News to discuss ongoing federal budget negotiations and the potential for a government shutdown. Marshall stated that Republicans are working to prevent what he referred to as the "Schumer Shutdown," attributing the impasse to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic priorities.

“Well, listen, the Republicans want a balanced budget. We want to keep the government open as well. But the Republicans have been negotiating since January. Susan Collins, the chairperson of the Appropriations Committee, has negotiated 90% of the Federal Budget that were responsible for. Through her committee, it’s passed out of committee, oftentimes, 23 to 2, 24, to 1. So Chuck Schumer is the one that’s sitting on those and won’t let those go across the finish line.

“And really, what he’s done, he’s taken a hostage here. His hostage is he wants $40 billion a year of extra subsidies for Obamacare. And those were set up during the Joe Biden Covid era, and we’ve said enough. COVID is over with, we want to move on, and by the way, 70% of those extra dollars are actually for people making over four times the poverty level. That’s not right.”

Marshall criticized Democratic efforts to secure additional healthcare funding in current budget talks.

“Look, I think we need to be compassionate. I want to make sure everybody gets adequate health care, but who’s paying for it? Again, this is one more consequence of this by Joe Biden. I want to emphasize here, what we’re asking for is a stopgap measure on funding that Democrats agreed to just last December. Every Senate Democrat voted for this budget. This is their budget, what they requested, and they want another $1.5 trillion on top of that. They’re not being reasonable. The ball is in Chuck Schumer’s court. I think he’s been given a very reasonable alternative at this point in time as well. And again, this is all about these $40 billion of subsidies on the ACA as well as the Medicaid expansion, those types of things from the Obamacare era.”

He also addressed concerns about keeping federal operations running amid fiscal disagreements.

“Yeah, so we would like to keep the government open, but we want a reasonable amount of spending. At the end of the day, this is about that $40 billion of subsidies that Chuck Schumer is asking for. Of those subsidies, 60-70% of it is going to people making four times the poverty level. A reasonable request from Schumer would be to say okay let’s continue that subsidy for people who are at the poverty level two or three times the poverty level; that would be a reasonable request but not the $1.5 trillion that he’s asked for—that's not reasonable. I assume that's why President did not take meeting in White House.”

The debate continues as both parties seek an agreement before potential disruptions occur in government services.