On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) stated that he would have preferred if Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had told Republicans “we need A., B., C., and D. for the Democratic Party and force the Republicans to meet him halfway on those issues and deliver something for the folks who are worried now” or else he’d vote for a government shutdown.
Host Bill Maher asked, “Republicans proposed a budget and Chuck Schumer said he would vote for it and then did and got ten Democratic senators to vote with him. The other side of the party is furious at this, AOC pretty much called him a traitor. Where do you stand on this? Did Schumer do the right thing or is the other part of the party right? Because that is the divide in the party.”
Shapiro responded that he isn’t “an expert” in D.C. issues and tries to avoid those issues and focus on Pennsylvania and “I think it is a false choice to suggest you need either/or, either you need that resistance, that fight, that opposition or you need to find ways to compromise and come together. I think that’s a false choice.”
Maher then cut in to say that this was a particular vote where you had to vote one way or the other.
Shapiro responded, “I would have liked to see, when Chuck Schumer had leverage here, to say, we need A., B., C., and D. for the Democratic Party and force the Republicans to meet him halfway on those issues and deliver something for the folks who are worried now.”
Maher then cut in to ask, “How can you force Republicans to do anything now?”
Shapiro answered, “Because they needed eight Democratic votes in the United States Senate.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
