BURSTSen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) on Thursday slammed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) for breaking with party leadership in her criticism of the government shutdown.
“I understand the frustrations, but I think it's totally unfair to say that Republicans have not entered in negotiations and Republicans are not having conversations,” the senior West Virginia senator said during an appearance on CNN’s “Inside Politics” when asked about her House colleague.
Greene has criticized House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) decision to cancel legislative votes amid Democratic grievances over the failure to extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium subsidies.
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“This cliff is coming for millions and millions of Americans where their health insurance premiums are about to skyrocket, so put your money where your mouth is,” Greene said in an interview with CNN published Wednesday.
The Georgia lawmaker said she’s not just pushing for the ACA extension on behalf of average Americans, but also for her family, which she said will face higher prices if the subsidies expire at the end of the year as slated.
“I’m literally here in Washington saying, you guys, if we don’t fix this right now, Americans are going to be hurting, and they really don’t care about R and D. They’re going to be talking about what’s happening to their bank accounts, what’s happening to their family, and that’s how they’re going to vote,” Greene told NewsNation host Blake Burman on Tuesday.
“If you double their health insurance, or even triple it, these people are going to — they’re either going to have to drop it, or they’re going to be choosing between rent and their insurance,” Greene later added.
Still, Capito argued that health care subsidies can be resolved at a later date and urged Senate Democrats to support the GOP's stopgap funding measure.
“This is a very simple fix. The House passed a simple fix. No strings attached to this at all, to open the government for seven weeks,” the senator told anchor Dana Bash on Thursday.
Capito added that this “shouldn't be a party thing.”
“I voted during the Biden administration consistently on this very same bill, as did they, to open government,” she added.
Johnson has echoed Capito's criticism, arguing that Greene is unfamiliar with the inner workings of the committees handling the subject of ACA extensions.
“Congresswoman Greene does not serve on the committees of jurisdiction to deal with those specialized issues, and she’s probably not read [in on some of that] because it’s still been sort of in their silos of the people who specialize in those issues,” Johnson told reporters Wednesday in the Capitol.
He and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) have held firm against Democrats' pressure, despite polling that shows Americans are discontent with the government shutdown.