Ocasio-Cortez: 'If Republicans wanted to avert a shutdown, they can'

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Thursday put the onus on Republicans to avert the looming government shutdown.

“Everybody knows that Donald Trump is president, that Republicans have the Senate and Republicans have the House,” Ocasio-Cortez told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead.”

“They have the keys to the entire United States government,” she added. “And if Republicans wanted to avert a shutdown, they can. … If they need Democratic votes, then they can negotiate with Democrats to get those votes. It is simple.”

Bipartisan funding negotiations fell apart earlier this year, and House Republicans introduced their own six-month stopgap government funding bill. It passed the House with just a single Democratic vote, but will need eight Senate Democrats to back it to overcome the filibuster.

That's put enormous pressure on Democrats in the upper chamber, who oppose the legislation but fear being blamed for a shutdown. Adding to the pressure, the House adjourned after passing the continuing resolution on Tuesday, meaning it won't be able to approve any changes to the funding bill the Senate makes before Friday's shutdown deadline.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced Thursday he would vote to advance the GOP bill.

Still, both House Democratic leaders and progressives are urging their Senate colleagues to stand firm.

“American people, whether they are Republicans, independents, Democrats, are up in arms about Elon Musk and the actual gutting of federal agencies across the board,” Ocasio-Cortez said on CNN. “This continuing resolution codifies much of this chaos that Elon Musk is wreaking havoc on the federal government.”

President Trump said Thursday that Democrats would be responsible in the case of government funding running out this week and also suggested that a shutdown would push back Republican efforts to extend expiring tax cuts.

“They do a shutdown, and, ultimately, that might lead to very, very high taxes because we’re talking about a shutdown,” Trump said to reporters. “We’re talking about getting to work immediately on the greatest tax bill ever passed. That was the one we did. It was a renewal, and it’s an addition to it.”

“We’re going to cut people’s taxes. And if we don’t open, the Democrats are stopping all of these good things that we’re providing,” he added.

The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.

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