While speaking with CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent and host Manu Raju on Thursday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) defended a potential measure to reopen the government that wouldn’t have provisions on Obamacare in it by saying that “We have brought this issue as a major national issue from zero to a major factor, I think, in the last election. And I think we’re going to continue to make it an issue as we approach the next election in the mid-year.”
During a report broadcast on “The Arena,” Raju played video where he said, “[S]ome people would think that this is capitulation if you only agree to a standalone.”
Durbin responded, “Well, some people need to understand how the Senate works. We have brought this issue as a major national issue from zero to a major factor, I think, in the last election. And I think we’re going to continue to make it an issue as we approach the next election in the mid-year.”
After the video concluded, Raju said, “And the question was, if enough Democrats agree with Sen. Dick Durbin, the number two Democrat, that they’ve been able to make health care an issue, not necessarily make it a law.”
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