In a very unexpectedly funny moment on CNN, far-left Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) got called out to his face for lying by CNN host Jake Tapper. Tapper exposed that, quite in contrast to what Democrats like Rep. Raskin now claim, it is Democrats who made the Affordable Care Act insurance policy subsidies temporary, not Republicans.
As background, the interview came as the shutdown entered its third week. During it, Raskin was trying to pin blame for the shutdown, which came thanks to Republicans’ refusal to countenance Democrat-demanded, ridiculous spending like taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegal aliens, on the Republicans.
Particularly, Rep. Raskin was trying to insist that another reason for the shutdowns, Democrats wanting to refund the temporary ACA subsidies passed as an emergency measure during COVID, which were defunded by the Big, Beautiful Bill, is the fault of Republicans rather than the Democratic Party.
Claiming as much during his appearance on CNN’s “The Lead,” Rep. Raskin alleged that the policy at issue is a “terrible” Republican one that Democrats are standing firmly against. He said, “I have not heard any Democrats, none have said to me, ‘Oh, let’s just allow this terrible Republican policy to go forward so we can beat them on it next year.’”
Shooting that down immediately, CNN’s Jake Tapper noted that the policy at issue was a Democratic one, not a Republican one, saying, “Congressman, you called it a terrible Republican policy. Democrats are the ones that put in this end date into these COVID-era Obamacare premium extensions, not Republicans.”
Then, pressing him on if the Democrats even have the votes to refund the subsidies, Tapper said, “But, be that as it may, do you have the votes? If Speaker Johnson were to say, okay, fine, we’re going to have a vote on this tomorrow, have you and your Democratic colleagues lobbied five to ten Republicans in the House to support you so that if this were to come up for a vote, it would pass?”
Raskin, angry, retorted that it wasn’t really the Democrats’ fault because the expiring subsidies were all they could get. He snapped, obviously angry at Tapper, “[B]y the way, the reason that it expired is because that was all that we could get. But we’ve been arguing for a renewal of those tax credits for months.”
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Continuing, he insisted that the fact-check that had demolished his claim was merely a GOP talking point, snapping that now they should “do the right thing,” saying, “So, I don’t accept that particular Republican talking point. We’ve all got the opportunity to do the right thing, right now, together, and we should be doing it.”
Concluding, Tapper insisted that this is all the fault of Republicans not doing their jobs, an absurd claim, saying, “And we’re asking them to come back to Washington and do their jobs, or at least they shouldn’t be taking pay for the last month while they’re talking about throwing federal workers who are on furlough off of their paychecks and not allowing them to get paid in the end.”
Watch them here: