Republicans Slam Schumer For Profane Video On Government Shutdown

WASHINGTON—Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has taken a lot of flak for his approach to the government shutdown, particularly a video the New York Democrat released on Monday.

“We will not let Republicans blow up our health care system,” Schumer said in the highly-produced video. “No f***ing way.”

The rest of the video is less profane, but no less controversial. Schumer goes on to reiterate the Democrats’ main argument for keeping the government shut down: Obamacare’s expanded tax credits would “expire” unless Congress passes the Democrats’ funding bill.

That turned out to be more controversial than the senator’s choice deployment of an f-bomb.

“Once again, Chuck Schumer is lying and hopes you just take his word for it,” Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) wrote in a reply to Schumer’s post. “The expiration date of these tax credits was set in the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which Democrats passed without a single Republican vote. The sensible forms Republicans made to sustain the program did not cut Medicaid, and he knows this.”

“Looking for someone to blame for the health care crisis Americans are facing? Look in the mirror,” the Republican continued.

Schumer’s fellow New Yorker, Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, called the minority leader the “biggest schmuck in Washington.”

“50 years in elected office! Go the f**k home. It’s time,” he posted. “Open the government and get back to work. And if the ACA is working so well, why do we need COVID subsidies to make it affordable? Maybe it’s time to fix the system.”

Brian Blase, a former White House policy official and president of the Paragon Health Institute, whose scholars have heavily scrutinized the system in question, says the tax credits should be allowed to expire.

“Obamacare is the reason for high premiums in the individual market and why they are increasing. Not a single Republican voted for the COVID-era Obamacare subsidy add-ons that Democrats set to expire after 2025,” Blase told The Daily Wire. “Any Democrats are misleading the public and claiming that all the Obamacare subsidies are expiring. That is not true. The original subsidies are permanent and cover more than 80 percent of the premium for the typical enrollee.”

“The original subsidies have gotten more generous over time. In 2014, they covered about 68 percent of the typical enrollees’ premiums. Next year, after the COVID credits expire, they will cover more than 80 percent,” Blase continued.

While Democrats are largely united behind Schumer’s call for the extension of the Obamacare tax credits, some are unhappy with the party’s approach to the shutdown.

“It’s a sad day for our nation. Our government shuts down at midnight. I voted AYE to extend ACA tax credits because I support them—but I won’t vote for the chaos of shuttering our government,” Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) wrote on September 30, just before the government shut down. “My vote was [for] our country over my party.”

Schumer’s office did not respond to a request for comment.