Congressional Democrats “do not want to get serious” about budget negotiations, but Republicans have done their part to keep the government open, Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., told Newsmax on Thursday, insisting that if there is a shutdown, the fault will lie with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
“We’ve done our job in the House,” Carter said on “Wake Up America.” “Let’s make sure we understand if the government does shut down — and it shouldn’t — but if it does, this will be the Schumer shutdown. It will be on Chuck Schumer and the Democrats.”
Carter stressed that House Republicans voted to ensure payments to troops and Social Security recipients.
“I voted to keep the government open,” he said. “I voted to make sure we’re paying our troops and make sure we don’t miss these Social Security checks. [Sen.] Jon Ossoff [D-Ga.] and Chuck Schumer, they voted against that.”
Democrats, Carter added, “want to make sure that you can have illegal immigrants on healthcare and taxpayer-funded gender-changing surgeries and not worry about paying our troops, not worrying about making sure their Social Security checks are coming to people who need it.”
He acknowledged the difficulty for Republicans in extending what he called the “Joe Biden-Nancy Pelosi budget,” referencing the former president and California Democrat representative, but argued it was necessary to buy time.
“If we get this seven-week extension, this clean extension, then I think we’ll have time to finish the appropriations process and put our own stamp on it,” he said. “But the Democrats are intent on spending more money. What they’re proposing is spending almost $1.5 trillion more, and we can ill afford that in our budget right now with our deficit around $34 trillion.”
Carter also backed President Donald Trump’s directive to prepare reduction-in-force plans in the event of a shutdown, calling it a chance to cut waste.
“I wouldn’t question Donald Trump,” he said. “He’s the chief negotiator; he’s the great negotiator. This is not necessarily a threat but an opportunity to do away with some waste, fraud, and abuse.”
But, Carter said, the sticking point remains Democrats’ unwillingness to compromise.
“I don’t think negotiations are going very well,” he said. “Obviously, the president was willing to meet with Schumer and with [Rep.] Hakeem Jeffries [D-N.Y.], and their demands were just not reasonable at all.”
The Democrats want to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies permanently, he added, in exchange for a seven-week budget exemption.
“I was born at night, but it wasn’t last night,” he said. “We’re not going to do that. We’re not going to fall into your demands for a seven-week [continuing resolution]. This is something that the president is willing to negotiate with if they will come to the table with serious offers.”
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