'This Moment Is a Test,' Says Ocasio-Cortez as Government Shutdown Begins

With the US federal government in a shutdown after a midnight deadline passed, outside progressive voices and Democrats in Congress who are holding the line against a $1 trillion evisceration of healthcare funding by President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers say the battle lines should be made clear for all to see.

"When Republicans use a legislative mechanism to gut the American healthcare system, we have to use a legislative mechanism in order to restore it," said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), in a Tuesday night interview with MSNBC's Chris Hayes just hours before the shutdown became inevitable after the Senate failed to pass a stopgap bill, one already passed by the GOP-controlled House.

"This moment is a test. Donald Trump wants us to blink first and hand him over power. We have too much to save to give in," Ocasio-Cortez declared. "Protecting the American people is too important a task for us to give up before anything even starts."

Republican leaders, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) have falsely claimed that Democrats refused to back the stopgap bill because they want to extend healthcare insurance benefits to unlawful and undocumented immigrants, a claim that is not just "misleading," says expert critics, but a "giant lie."

"What I'm not going to do is tolerate 4 million uninsured Americans because Donald Trump decided one day that he just wants to make sure that kids are dying because they don't have access to insurance. That's what's not gonna happen."
—Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Asked to explain the Democratic message and strategy surrounding the shutdown fight, Ocasio-Cortez said, "We're here to help people. We are here in the midst of the destruction of the federal government, the federal safety net, a trillion dollars eviscerated from people's healthcare, their Medicare, their Medicaid, in this country, with prices that are skyrocketing and life becoming completely untenable for the American people. We are here to try to be a backstop...which is what the American people have elected us to do."

Ocasio-Cortez pushed back on the idea that fears of a possible primary challenge against Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, also from New York, had anything to do with his refusal to cave to the Republicans and therefore made her culpable for the shutdown in the eyes of some GOP lawmakers who have floated such speculation.

"This moment is so not about me," she said when asked about that dynamic by Hayes. But given those claims by GOP senators, she added, "If that is the case, my office is open and you are free to walk in and negotiate with me directly. Because what I'm not going to do is tolerate 4 million uninsured Americans because Donald Trump decided one day that he just wants to make sure that kids are dying because they don't have access to insurance. That's what's not gonna happen."

Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) described the shutdown as a "sad day" for the nation. Still, she echoed Ocasio-Cortez's vow to fight on behalf of her constituents and all Americans facing real hardship due to the impacts of Trump's agenda.

"Republicans own this shutdown," said Chu in an overnight statement. "They control the House, the Senate, and the White House, and yet they chose to shut down the government rather than protect affordable health care for millions of Americans. After forcing through a partisan spending bill that failed in the Senate, Republicans then blocked House Democrats from bringing up a commonsense bill that would have kept the government open, canceled health care cuts, lowered out-of-pocket costs, and protected the affordable care that working families rely on."

The shutdown, she said, makes clear the GOP's priorities under Trump.

"First, they passed their Big Ugly Law, which ripped $1.5 trillion out of our health care system, kicked 15 million Americans off their insurance, slashed Medicare and Medicaid, and weakened the Affordable Care Act (ACA)—all to fund massive tax cuts for billionaires," explained Chu. "Now, with 24 million Americans facing premium hikes of up to 114 percent, Republicans left town and shut down the government. This is a failure of leadership and a despicable betrayal of working Americans who depend on ACA tax credits to afford health care."

Progressive advocates nationwide backed the message and the strategy that Ocasio-Cortez and other Democrats are rallying around.

“Across the country, working-class people are struggling," said Carolyn Martinez-Class and Rebecca Garrard, co-executive directors of Citizen Action of New York, in a Tuesday night statement alongside groups aligned with the national community organizing group People's Action.

"Instead of getting to work delivering affordability for their constituents, the Republican majority in Congress continues to advance MAGA extremism in DC," said Martinez-Class and Garrard. "Instead of reigning in Trump’s attacks on our rights, the Republican majority are taking our money for Medicaid and food stamps and giving it to billionaires. Republican leaders, like Thune and Johnson, want to pass an annual funding bill that will result in health and housing costs skyrocketing while funding Trump’s assault on our communities using ICE and the military. It’s on the Republican majority to come to the table and negotiate a deal with the Democratic minority that prioritizes New Yorkers and working people across the country living paycheck to paycheck, not CEOs."

Lindsay Owens, executive director at Groundwork Collaborative, blasted the GOP for their refusal to meet the Democrats' demand to restore healthcare funding cuts that will impact an estimated 22 million people struggling to make ends meet.

"Republicans in Congress just sent a message to the American people that they would rather shut down the government than lower your health care costs," said Owens. "Each day that the government is shut down and Republicans refuse to negotiate brings more than 20 million people closer to seeing their insurance premiums spike on November 1, and puts millions more at risk of losing Medicaid coverage. The American people deserve leaders who’ll fight to protect our health care and lower costs — not drive prices up and make life harder for everyone.”

Public Citizen co-president Lisa Gilbert said, “This harmful and perfectly avoidable government shutdown is the natural conclusion of the MAGA agenda," applauding lawmakers in Congress for their opposition.

Polling released Tuesday from Our Revolution, the organizing group founded in the wake of Sen. Bernie Sanders first presidential run in 2016, showed that the Democratic base of the party wants its elected leaders to fight tooth and nail over the healthcare funding, as well as Trump's increasingly authoritarian push that has attacked free speech, targeted political enemies with the power of the state, and threatened to use US cities as "training grounds" for the US military.

Laura Martin, executive director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada Action Fund, echoed those calling for Democrats to continue holding the line.

"Our community continues to come last for the Trump administration and his billionaire cronies," said Martin. "We saw it in the budget reconciliation bill, and now, working families are expected to accept cuts to life-sustaining social safety net programs while billionaires benefit from tax cuts and ICE gets more funding than a small army."

What people across need across the country, she added, "is health care, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Congress should not pass any funding bill that forces struggling families to choose between health care and basic needs. It is an impossible decision that results in the loss of lives. We expect our representatives in the House and Senate to make it clear that our lives are non-negotiable, which means no cuts to health care or social security benefits."