Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) told MSNBC's "The Weeknight" on Monday that he thoroughly rejects the Senate shutdown deal, which extends food assistance funding and reverses the Trump administration's firings but doesn't deliver on the key sticking point of the entire last few weeks, which was the extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies that are going away for millions of people.
Even so, he added, Democrats are emerging from this standoff in better shape and stronger unity than the GOP, for a key reason.
"What do you tell folks now that 40, 41 days later, you didn't get what you were fighting for? Was it all for nothing?" asked anchor Symone Sanders. "Because I'm thinking about the people that have been standing in the food lines for the last couple of weeks. I'm thinking about the folks that missed a whole month of paychecks that are now behind on their bills. I'm thinking — I'm thinking about the people who don't know if they're going to be able to have Thanksgiving with their family in about a week and a half, because they don't know how they're going to make it work. What do you tell those people?"
"Yeah," said Boyle. "So first, as soon as I heard about these eight Senate Democrats conspiring with Republicans to come up with this, I immediately took to Twitter, said that I was a 'hell no' on this supposed agreement, which, by the way, is not actually a legislative agreement. It's essentially a pinky promise from [Senate Majority Leader] John Thune that at some point next month, there'll be a vote on something regarding Obamacare and tax subsidies. That's not an agreement."
"Now, in terms of what I tell those who may have voted for us and who are disappointed, it is important that we keep in mind, regardless of where, you know, certain Senate Democrats may be on this issue, all Democrats are united, 100 percent in the House, 100 percent in the Senate, in opposing these health care cuts. They are being carried out by Republicans, almost all of whom voted for them just a few months ago in the big ugly law."
"So as frustrated as I am at the moment, as frustrated as my other House Democratic colleagues are, as well as some other Senate Democratic colleagues I talked to today, it is important that we not lose sight of the bigger picture here: it is Democrats fighting to save the health care of the American people, to keep premiums where they are, if not lower. And it is Republicans who are hellbent on carrying through with these health care cuts, as unpopular as they may be," Boyle added.