Ohio Republicans Are Not Playing Games With the Shutdown

With the government having now been shut down for a week, Ohio’s top Republicans in Congress are not holding back from calling out Democrats for what’s been dubbed the “Schumer Shutdown,” after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Both of Ohio’s U.S. senators for Ohio are Republicans, with Sen. Jon Husted facing an election next year and Sen. Bernie Moreno part of leadership. House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan has also been garnering attention as he calls out the Democrats’ tactics.

All three have been striking hard on a similar chord.

Rep. Jim Jordan

Congressional Republicans, including those in Ohio, have been hammering how Democrats have been willing to shut down the government over providing health care for illegal immigrants.

Jordan, during a Tuesday night interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, did not hold back even as the host tried to take issue with this narrative.

Collins had been talking about health care, with Jordan countering that Democrats looking to fund health care for illegal immigrants is what’s driving up costs.

“The Democrats want health care for people who are non-citizens. That’s driving up health care costs too,” Jordan pointed out, as he and Collins engaged in a back and forth.

Jordan brought up Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., as well as the Democrat presidential candidates for 2020 who all raised their hands during a primary debate when asked if their health care plan would include illegal immigrants.

The congressman made clear that his party is “opposed to that position” and that they “don’t think that’s common sense.”

“We don’t think that’s good for the country. We don’t think that’s the right approach. What we do think is we can have a debate on what’s better for health care, but we don’t think extending and expanding Obamacare … and giving it to illegal migrants is going to help,” he added.

Although Jordan repeatedly asked Collins how such a plan would help his constituents in Ohio’s 4th Congressional District, she did not answer his question.

“We are focused on getting the government back open, right now, and Chuck Schumer is the impediment to doing that. Chuck Schumer is the one who’s [keeping] people from working, the potential that some of these furloughed people can’t get back to work. He’s the one doing that. He’s the one who’s raising this issue. Open up the government, and we’ll be happy to debate and discuss health care,” Jordan later added.

Jordan repeated that narrative over X on Wednesday as well.

Sen. Bernie Moreno

Another figure Republicans are blaming is House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., whom Moreno called out in a statement announcing his new bill.

Last Friday, Moreno introduced the Stop Holding Up Tax-Payers, Deny Wages on Washington’s Negligence (SHUTDOWN) Act, which would impose a daily tax on members during a government shutdown.

“Democrats like Hakeem Jeffries want to get paid for shutting the government down,” said Moreno. “That’s ridiculous. If Congress can’t do the bare minimum, we don’t deserve a paycheck.” 

Members may be worried and thus eager to end the shutdown thanks to Moreno’s bill, and less likely to play games with government funding.

The senator also called out the Associated Press over X for the outlet’s claim that Democrats did not actually shut down the government over health care for illegal immigrants.

Sen. Jon Husted

Chatter about the “Schumer shutdown” picked up last week, when it became increasingly likely that the government was headed for a shutdown. Husted had already been using the term, including in his September interview with The Daily Signal.

Husted has continued to use the term over X, including when lamenting the lack of access small businesses have during the “Schumer Shutdown” to Small Business Administration funding and the shutdown’s waste of taxpayer funding on salaries for federal employees.

The senator also shared a clip of a Fox News interview with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., that included the video referenced by Jordan of every single candidate in a 2020 Democrat debate raising their hand in support of illegal immigrants getting taxpayer-funded health care.

What’s Next?

On Wednesday, the Senate held votes on both the Republican and Democrat continuing resolution bills. As expected, both failed.

While Republicans control the White House and enjoy majorities in the House and Senate, they are short of the necessary 60 votes to overcome the Democrat roadblock.

Democrat Sens. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada have voted in favor of the House bill to fund the government, as has Sen. Angus King of Maine, an independent who caucuses with Democrats. Especially with Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky voting against the other members of his party, the GOP is still six votes shy of ending the shutdown.

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