Bernie Sanders Turns The Government Shutdown Tables On Trump

After Trump claimed that there was no point to negotiating with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) showed Trump how easy it would be to keep the government open.

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The Trump White House has been living under the delusion that Republicans can pass a bill on their own without Democrats to keep the government open. Trump has gone so far as to suggest that it is a waste of time to negotiate a deal to keep the government open because Democrats will vote against it no matter what the agreement contains.

Trump’s point is not true.

Democrats have laid out what they want in exchange for keeping the government open, and it is a rollback of the Medicaid and ACA cuts.

That is the starting point of what Democrats want.

It would be easy for Trump and the Republicans to keep the government.

All it would take is rolling back some of the most harmful cuts in their tax cuts for the rich bill.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) isn’t a Democrat, but he caucuses with Senate Democrats and he laid it all out for Trump in a statement:

Donald Trump was recently asked about negotiating with the Democrats to avoid a government shutdown. “Don’t even bother dealing with them,” the president said. “If you gave them every dream, they would not vote for it.”

Well, I don’t know about Democrats, Mr. President, but as an Independent I am prepared to vote with you if you simply do what the American people want. At a time when 60% of our people are living paycheck to paycheck I don’t think it’s a “dream” to ask that you:

• Not slash Medicaid and throw 15 million people off their health insurance, resulting in over 50,000 deaths a year.

• Not raise health care premiums by 75%, on average, for over 20 million Americans due to cuts to the Affordable Care Act.

• Not, at a time of unprecedented income and wealth inequality, give the richest people in America a trillion dollars in tax breaks.

• Not cut nutrition programs for hungry kids.

• Not make it harder for young people to get a higher education.

Mr. President, your party controls the House, the Senate and the White House. Do not shut down the government.

If you come to an agreement on these issues, you’ve got my vote.

What must be kept in mind is that this is a government funding bill, so the things are going to want are related to government funding.