A top House Democrat told MSNBC viewers on Tuesday that the Senate should consider taking an extraordinary step to shut down the government over President Donald Trump's takeover of Washington, D.C.
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, joined "The Weeknight" on Tuesday evening, where the congressman was asked about the different avenues of leverage that Democrats can use to hit back at Trump's federalization of Washington, D.C.'s law enforcement operations.
"I know you’re a House member, but do you think that your colleagues in the Senate, Senate Democrats, should refuse to fund the government?" asked host Laura Barrón-López. "That deadline is coming up at the end of September. Should they refuse to vote on these spending bills, using that leverage, until they see President Trump reverse-deploying troops in the streets of D.C.?"
Garcia said a shutdown "should be on the table."
"I don’t think we should be ruling that out. I think Democrats in the Senate, the House, all of us, should be united in using everything that we can do and all of our power to stop what Trump is doing right now, not just in D.C. but across the country," he said. "So absolutely, that should be on the table."
Garcia, a frequent Trump critic, called the Trump administration's takeover of D.C. and moves in other parts of this country "horrifying."
"People are being thrown to the ground, being picked up, American citizens are being attacked, American citizens in some cases are being sent to detention centers. And so, absolutely, the Senate should be engaged," he said. "I know that our leadership is having conversations with Senate leadership — happening today, ongoing — about what that would actually look like."
Garcai said he believes Democrats will be "all in."
"If it means shutting down Donald Trump’s government and his actions, we’ve got to be prepared to do that," he said.
"Now you’re starting to break a few eggs, Congressman," quipped former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele.
"I'm an egg breaker. I’ll break a lot of eggs," Garcia concluded.
Watch the clip below or at this link.