As the federal government nears a shutdown ahead of a midnight deadline, Democrats and Republicans remain deeply divided.
Republicans are insisting on a straightforward extension of existing funding. Democrats are demanding an extension of subsidies for the Affordable Care Act and a rollback of health care cuts, misusing budget jargon to deem the Republican budget proposal “dirty.”
Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the House minority leader, argued in an interview on CNBC on Tuesday morning that the Republican proposal was not “clean” because it continued funding levels enacted in March, which passed with virtually no Democratic support in the House.
Left unsaid: Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader in the other chamber, and eight other Senate Democrats voted for the March bill. Moreover, in terminology about government spending and the appropriations process, “clean” refers to budget bills that keep existing funding level without extraneous provisions or significant policy changes.
Earlier in September, Republicans in the House passed what is known as a continuing resolution, or a temporary funding bill, that would simply extend federal funding through Nov. 21. It also includes $88 million in funding for security for congressional lawmakers, the Supreme Court and executive branch personnel after the killing of the conservative personality Charlie Kirk. Because it is relatively free of major policy or funding changes, stakeholder groups like the National Association of Counties have characterized this bill as a “clean C.R.”
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The post Explaining a Democratic Talking Point About the Shutdown appeared first on New York Times.
