Sunday on ABC’s “Face the Nation,” Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) declared President Donald Trump had “cut off food from people,” blaming “cruelty.”
Partial transcript as follows:
STEPHANOPOULOS: I do want to talk about this government shutdown. You saw the interview there with Secretary Bessent. President Trump has called for an end to the filibuster. He says that’s not the administration’s position. He’s also called for this direct subsidies to the American people for — to pay for health care, but he says that’s not the official position of the government, of the administration either. He says, it’s just up to Democratic senators to turn around. Is that going to happen?
SCHIFF: No. I certainly hope it isn’t going to happen, if millions of people are going to retain their health coverage and not have to pay these exorbitant premium increases. George, I’m hearing from people all over California, people with pre-existing conditions, people who tell me their premiums are going to go up $1,000 a month, that they’re going to have to drop their coverage. They know that’s really bad for them and their families. And we can easily estimate the millions of people that are going to lose access to quality care, and the tens of thousands of lives that will be lost. So we need to end this, we propose something I think very reasonable. It was a compromise, certainly wasn’t everything I want, which is a permanent extension of the tax credits. We said, let’s extend existing law for a year, give us more time to work on this, and re-open the government.
And the result from the Republicans was — from the Senate Republicans, no, from the House Republicans, we’re staying on vacation. And for the president, I’m going out to play golf. And that’s where we are, while people are hurting. And one thing that is just so shocking to me, George, in the midst of all of this, they’re appealing to the Supreme Court for the right to cut off food from people. Who does that? Who works so hard? Who goes all the way through the court system to cut food from people who need it right now? But that’s where they’re coming from. The cruelty is part of the policy.
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