Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) recently made an appearance on “Meet the Press” hosted by Kristen Welker, where he hypothesized that Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is plotting to cause another government shutdown in an attempt to place the blame on the GOP and wreck their midterm election returns come November.
During the lengthy interview with Kennedy, Welker asked, “Final question for you: Congress is facing another government shutdown, as you well know, just weeks before the midterms, Senator. If Democrats and Republicans cannot reach an agreement. And Leader Schumer may be about to strike a deal or working on some type of agreement. Will you support a deal, a bipartisan deal, if it is reached, to avoid another government shutdown?”
Kennedy answered by saying that he, at the time of the interview, hadn’t heard any information about Schumer reaching a deal, but did say it’s being reported that in return for keeping the government up and running, he wants Senate Majority Leader John Thune to take action against President Donald Trump. “Well, I don’t know what the deal is yet. I’m only on the Appropriations Committee, but I’ve heard nothing,” the Louisiana Republican said.
“Now, it’s been reported that Senator Schumer, in return for keeping government open, wants Senator Thune to kill the budget resolution and to take away President Trump’s authority to review government grants. I think to agree to that would be top of the heap, king of the Hill, a number one stupid,” Kennedy explained.
“Will I vote for it? The short answer is no,” the senator told Welker. “The long answer is hell no. And if that’s what we, Sen. Thune puts on the floor, we will get…I’m not going to vote for it, and I don’t think most Republicans will. And I don’t think the House will. And we will have shot off yet one more of our toes,” Kennedy said with a touch of the Southern humor he’s become well-known for.
“I would put a clean CR on the floor because we’ll be blamed for the shutdown. I would put a clean CR on the floor with none of this foolishness in it,” the Republican went on to say during the interview. “And if Senator Schumer wants to shut down government at the behest of the Graham Plattner wing of his party, he should knock himself out. I don’t think he’ll do it, but he might.”
“Senator John Kennedy, we covered a lot of ground this morning. Thank you so very much for being here. We really appreciate it,” Welker said finishing the interview. Earlier in the conversation, the two discussed information concerning the war still going on in Iran. “We are now in the fifth month. President Trump posted overnight that he will halt planned attacks to allow for talks to move forward, suggesting a deal can be reached rapidly, Senator?”
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Well, I hope so. I’m always willing to give peace a chance. Respectfully, I would remind President Trump of three things. Number one, the only reason that Iran is coming to the table, if indeed they are, is because Israel and the United States of America have torn them a new ashtray. Number two, no deal is just fine, not preferred, but not preferable, but it’s fine. A bad deal isn’t. Number three, he has to remember that the Iranian government learned to lie before they learned to talk, and they’re more than mildly insane,” he said.
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