CNBC Squawk Box co-anchor Becky Quick took House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) to task over his party’s ongoing effort to keep the federal government shut down while Democrats continue pushing for more than a trillion dollars in new spending that would include healthcare coverage for illegal aliens.
Quick also scolded Jeffries over Democrats seeking more taxpayer-funded subsidies for Obamacare. “What you’re asking the Republicans to do right now when they control the White House, the Senate and the House is effectively what the Democrats could not do when they controlled all three heads of government themselves,” she said on Monday’s edition of the program.
As Jeffries stared stone-faced into the camera, Quick added: “The three-year setup for the expiration of these credits was intentionally put in. It was put in when you controlled the White House, the House and the Senate. You couldn’t get it passed for longer.”
“This is a setup kind of your own creation that you all couldn’t extend beyond that. Now you want the Republicans to do something you didn’t do when you were in power?” Quick noted further.
“Uh, it’s not a setup beyond what we could do,” Jeffries stumbled in response.
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Meanwhile, the largest federal employee union, which has historically been a major Democratic constituency, blasted the party on Monday and urged Democratic leaders to work with Republicans to get the government reopened.
In a statement, American Federation of Government Employees President Everett Kelley demanded an end to the shutdown.
“This week, Congress pushed our nation into the fourth week of a full government shutdown — an avoidable crisis that is harming families, communities, and the very institutions that hold our country together,” Kelley wrote, thereby correctly noting that Congress, not President Donald Trump, holds the government’s purse strings. “Both political parties have made their point, and still there is no clear end in sight.”
He urged Democrats to do what Republicans have repeatedly done: Vote for a clean funding bill.
“Today I’m making mine: it’s time to pass a clean continuing resolution and end this shutdown today,” Kelley added. “No half measures, and no gamesmanship. Put every single federal worker back on the job with full back pay — today.”
The AFGE represents 820,000 federal and D.C. government employees, according to reports.
“As president of the American Federation of Government Employees, I represent over 800,000 federal and D.C. government workers who serve with pride and professionalism,” Kelly continued.
“They ensure our skies are safe, our veterans receive care, our borders are protected, and our food is inspected. They come from every political background and every corner of this nation. What unites them is a simple belief: that service to country is honorable work,” he said.
“Today, that belief is being tested. The Army nurse in San Antonio, the TSA officer in Atlanta, the USDA food safety inspector in Iowa, and hundreds of thousands more like them are being asked to keep our country running without the paychecks that keep their own households afloat,” Kelly continued.
“These are patriotic Americans – parents, caregivers, and veterans – forced to work without pay while struggling to cover rent, groceries, gas and medicine because of political disagreements in Washington. That is unacceptable,” he said.
“It’s long past time for our leaders to put aside partisan politics and embrace responsible government. A strong America requires a functioning government — one that pays its bills, honors its commitments, and treats its workforce with respect by paying them on time.”
He made three demands:
–Reopen the government immediately under a clean continuing resolution that allows continued debate on larger issues.
–Ensure back pay for every single employee who has served or been forced to stay home through no fault of their own.
–Work together on a bipartisan basis to address important policy matters like addressing rising costs and fixing the broken appropriations process.
