The White House melted down Thursday afternoon over a CNN town hall in which Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) discussed the ongoing government shutdown.
The two lawmakers insisted that Congress needed concrete action to secure long-term Affordable Care Act subsidies and blasted GOP leadership for delays and lack of negotiations.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, shared a news release in which the Trump administration blasted Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders.
"Last night’s CNN clown show starring Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Crazy Bernie Sanders was nothing more than a desperate smokescreen to hide the brutal reality of the Democrat Shutdown," she said. "Make no mistake: Chuck Schumer and his band of obstructionists — on orders from the Radical Left lunatics in control of the party — deliberately shuttered the government to extort their socialist agenda at the expense of hardworking Americans."
The White House said Trump took action to ensure service members get paid and that critical nutrition assistance programs remain funded, which help low-income women and children.
"Meanwhile, unhinged Democrats are threatening litigation rather than doing what they were elected to do," she said, adding: "Their hypocrisy knows no bounds, even as workers go unpaid and essential services grind to a halt — and last night’s spectacle only reinforced how hypocritical Democrats really are."`
The White House then tore into Sanders over his responses.
"Not only did Crazy Bernie have no answer for why he previously called a government shutdown 'a serious and dangerous action that we must do everything possible to prevent,' he was left stuttering after a young man pointed out Chuck Schumer’s blistering hypocrisy," the release said.
Democrats have so far refused to vote to pass a stopgap funding bill that woud reopen the government, digging in their heels over extending health insurance subsidies under the ACA. They have said millions who buy their own insurance will see their premiums double overnight if the subsidies expire.
