Smith, Grassley share thoughts on federal government shutdown

Minnesota Democratic U.S. Sen. Tina Smith has released a statement in the wake of the federal government shutdown.

“I’ll work with anyone who wants to work with me to bring down health care costs, but I won’t give Donald Trump a blank check and be bullied into voting for their partisan bill that will leave Minnesotans facing a near-doubling of their health insurance costs. Grocery bills are going up, utility bills are going up, and health care costs are skyrocketing, especially for health insurance premiums. 

"President Trump and Republicans hurt rural hospitals and nursing homes with massive cuts to Medicaid," she continued. "Some families are seeing health insurance premiums go up as much as 70 percent or more. Now, they’re shutting down the federal government because they refuse to work with Democrats to lower health care costs for Americans."

According to MNSure, 89,000 Minnesotans will see their premiums increase by nearly $200 every month if Republicans refuse to extend subsidies for Americans. 20,000 Minnesotans will lose all financial assistance.

Iowa U.S. Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, meanwhile, said "Democrats are holding the Senate hostage.” He said Republicans wanted at least what’s known as a clean continuing resolution, a bare-bones agreement that simply says spending will remain exactly the same for a given period of time, with nothing additional tacked on. Democrats, however, are heeding the wishes of “radical activists in their base” and accused them of trying to attach a wide array of partisan funding items to the national budget that would cost more than a trillion dollars.

Grassley says he opposed these shutdown threats, and especially actual shutdowns, as a gigantic waste of time and resources.