Former Democratic New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn clashed with former Trump administration official Matt Mowers on CNN Tuesday over the state of the economy, and the responsibility of the GOP to prevent a federal government shutdown, as Mowers tried to shift blame for the uncertainty and the risk of a shutdown onto Democrats.
"Republicans can't blame the Democrats and then take credit for what they're putting out as a good jobs report. Either this is their economy or it is not," said Quinn. "Although we don't control anything at the moment ... we are not without power, but the greatest power we have is to work with Americans. If you've seen the very organic turnout at these town hall meetings, Republicans are having, people are mad about the economy. People are mad about this slash and burn attempt by Elon Musk to just gut the federal workforce in places that really are important, like the Veterans Administration, like Social Security."
The conversation then turned to the potential shutdown that could begin this month, with CNN anchor Sara Sidner pointing out the intraparty fighting that could prevent the GOP from producing the votes, and President Donald Trump going after Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) for refusing to support the continuing resolution.
"I mean, no one's surprised that Thomas Massie is going to oppose this. He opposes everything," said Mowers. "I think the real question is, are the Democrats, even though they're in the minority, going to be responsible here and actually try to keep the government open, or are they going to kind of stamp their feet and, you know, say, if we don't get our way, we're going to go home? ... I think we've actually seen a responsible approach by the Republican majority and the Trump administration on this. The question is, are the Democrats going to try to play politics with the U.S. economy right now? And whether they're going to keep the government open?" If they don't, he added, it "explains why their approval rating right now is around 20 percent."
"Yeah," Sidner said, but reminded him, "the Democrats' response to that is, how dare you put this on us. You have control of both houses. We will have to wait and see how the American public responds. Depending on which way things go, as this bill, they're going to be a vote today. So we will see if the House can push it through. And then what happens with the Senate."
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