HONOLULU (KHON2) — The threat of a partial government shutdown could become reality this week.
“We’re literally waiting for that meeting this afternoon between President Trump and finally, he’s agreed to meet with democratic leaders of both the house and the senate. As you know, what the republicans have been pushing is not a bipartisan, stop gap measure to a potential shutdown,” Rep. Jill Tokuda said. “It was a very partisan attack, literally playing politics with people’s lives, not allowing democrats to sit down and make our case that any bill that we pass in the next 48 hours has to protect health care for people, because that big, ugly bill literally a trillion dollars in cuts to Medicaid, half-a-trillion dollars in cuts to Medicare.”
Tokuda went on to speak about what could happen if tax credits are not extended.
“But as we also know, by year’s end, if we don’t extend those premium tax credits for the Affordable Care Act, literally millions of people will be uninsured at the start of next year. We can allow that to happen,” she said. “We can’t kick the can down the road and even another seven weeks. And so that’s why house democrats have literally showed up today for work, and yet we know our republican counterparts are still on vacation back at home.”