Attempts by Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) to shift blame on the looming government shutdown on President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats provoked a testy exchange from a CNN host who immediately called out the lawmaker – and his Republican colleagues.
The on-air moment happened Friday when a clearly frustrated Jake Tapper pushed back on Lawler’s argument that Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) were ostensibly absent from the spending bill negotiations.
“Where is Joe Biden? He's the sitting president of the United States, nobody has heard a word from Joe Biden or the White House, and we're eight hours away from a government shutdown,” Lawler said. “You know, this is why Washington is so broken.”
That’s when Tapper jumped in after fidgeting in his seat through Lawler’s response.
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“I certainly understand what you're saying, but at the same time, with all due respect, sir, you're going after the top Democrat in the Senate and a lame-duck Democratic president,” Tapper said. “Your conference, the House Republican conference – and we go through this every single time Republicans control the House – you guys can't pass legislation. You can't govern.”
Lawler quickly pointed out that the House has indeed “passed a lot of legislation” that has “languished down the hall in the Senate.”
“Spending legislation, government funding legislation,” Tapper insisted. “I'm talking about government funding legislation.”
Lawler continued to explain away the sticky situation currently starring down House Republicans – but Tapper wasn’t done airing his frustrations.
“Government funding legislation – every time we go through this, every time we go through this,” he said.
“Respectfully, respectfully, we passed a number of appropriations bills through the House floor, we passed all 12 through committee,” Lawler said. “We couldn't even get to a conference committee because Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats again passed exactly zero bills.”
The New York lawmaker told Tapper that he understands “the frustration” and added: “I’m as frustrated as anybody.”
Tapper concluded the interview with a prediction.
“I also suspect that next year, when your party controls the House, the Senate and the White House, we're still going to have this problem when it comes to government funding bills,” the host said.
Watch the clip below or at this link.
