Scott Bessent: Schumer and Jeffries Driving Shutdown to Protect Poll Numbers, Not the Public

KERNEN: “... rumors of possible real action taken to do some things permanently during this shutdown within the next 48 hours or so. Can you give — shed any light on whether that’s really going to happen or was it a bargaining chip for Republicans to get Democrats to agree to keep the government open?”
BESSENT: “Well Joe let’s just step back for a minute and look how we got here. Chuck Schumer did the right thing in the spring and led the Senate to a clean CR. What we’ve got here is the House has — they have passed a clean CR. The Republicans have the votes in the Senate and he will not allow his members to come across. And what’s changed since then is — it’s his poll numbers. So you know, the president, Vice President Vance, Speaker Johnson, Leader Thune, they’re not negotiating with Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, they’re negotiating with a representative Ocasio-Cortez because she’s nipping at his heels. And, you know — so I the American people are being held hostage by Chuck Schumer’s poll numbers. And you know we’re starting to see some of the moderate the very few moderate members left in the Democratic Party in the Senate drift toward wanting a solution, Chuck Schumer’s blocking it. You know, when I look at Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries straight out of Brooklyn makes me glad that I left New York in 2020. And to your question about the shutdown, you know, this is a choice that Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries have made. And you know if they want to shut the government down then there are ramifications.”