To watch Senator Capito’s interview, click here or on the image above.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a member of Senate Republican leadership, joined CNN’s Dana Bash on Inside Politics to discuss the government shutdown.
HIGHLIGHTS:
ON DEMOCRATS KEEPING THE GOVERNMENT CLOSED: “The simple thing here is to reopen the government…To me, that’s the simplest way, and would’ve been on October 1st, to not worry about who’s going to miss a paycheck…other people are getting entangled into this, our troops and others, through no fault of their own. Our leader, Senator Thune, has said we will begin negotiations on this matter as soon as you reopen the government…So it’s just a political exercise. Chuck Schumer said that today, ‘every day gets better for us.’ Who’s us? The Democrat Party, not our troops, our border patrol agents, and those who depend on services from our country.”
ON FINDING A SOLUTION FOR ACA PREMIUM SUBSIDIES: “What I say to [West Virginians] is what I’ve been saying to the Democrats, and many of us have, including Senator Thune…we will negotiate on this. The president has talked about wanting to find a solution. Dr. Oz has been with me at our policy lunches to talk about trying to find solutions for this…We know that there needs to be reforms and that’s the issue they refuse to actually talk about and consider. I want to protect my West Virginia small business owners and beauticians and barbers and small mom and pop shops. This is incredibly important to me that they get healthcare…Let’s open the government and enter into negotiations.”
ON REPUBLICANS GIVING DEMOCRATS A SIMPLE PATH TO REOPEN THE GOVERNMENT: “This is a very simple fix. The House passed a simple fix, no-strings-attached at all, to open the government for seven weeks. Chuck Schumer is on record saying, ‘every day gets better for us.’ Who’s he talking about? He’s talking about his political future and his political party. This shouldn’t be a party thing. I voted during the Biden administration consistently on this very same bill, as did they…It’s gamesmanship for their party because we’re offering a simple solution, of which three of their Democrat members agree with.”
ON PROTECTING THE FILIBUSTER: “Many of us signed a letter under President Trump’s first administration saying we would not break the filibuster. Remember, the Democrats did that too, and you want to talk about lack of trust, then they turned around and voted to break the filibuster. I’m not going to vote to break the filibuster, and I don’t believe the votes are there to do that. It sounds like an easy fix, but we’re talking about setting generations of policy, good policy, and minority rights aside and I’m not going to be party to that.”
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