Thursday on MSNBC’s “All In,” Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) said the Republican lawmakers he had spoken to were “terrified” after Tuesday’s election.
Kim said, “I’m hearing from a lot of my Republican colleagues in both the Senate and, now, more recently, from the House of Representatives. They are, I’ll be honest with you, this week they are terrified. They’re really scared. I think the election results really shook them to their core, and they see how they are very clearly on the wrong side of not just this issue about health care, but on the wrong side of the American people. So, yes, I’ve been on the phone with a number of Republicans in Congress that are telling me just we got to find a way out of this. They want to be able to actually take action, to be able to extend the ACA. And they see their leaders, including and especially Speaker Johnson, to be deeply out of touch.”
He added, “I’m reaching out and I’m trying to see if there’s opportunity there to make sure that the House of Representatives, that Speaker Johnson doesn’t get a pass here. You know, he is somebody who has held up and not brought this House of Representatives into session for, I think, approximately 50 days, which is absolutely insane. We need to get the House of Representatives back in the session. Donald Trump needs to be at the table negotiating, and I’m going to be doing my best to generate the bipartisan and bicameral pressure to be able to have that happen.”
Follow Pam Key on X @pamkeyNEN
