After his annual Veterans Town Hall in Marblehead Monday night, Congressman Seth Moulton spoke to reporters about the eight Senate Democrats who joined Republicans to pass spending legislation and end the longest government shutdown in history. The House is expected to vote on Wednesday.
The spending package does not include an extension of federal health care subsidies Democrats had been fighting for.
Moulton, a Democrat running for Senate, will vote against the measure.
“The House Democratic caucus is going to mostly stay united in opposing this,” he said. “Look, people are not going to be able to afford health care if we give in to the Republicans right now, and we actually have some leverage. Trump said after the victories, the Democratic victories on Tuesday, that Republicans need to make a deal. Trump himself is going to the Supreme Court to beg them to allow him to let people starve. I mean, this is a president on his back foot. We finally have him on his back foot, pushing him to do the right thing. We shouldn’t be giving up.”
Moulton went on to say that it’s time for new Democratic leadership in Congress.
“I think for a while, Democrats have actually been standing up, and we’ve been saying something that should resonate with people across this country, no matter what your political stripes, which is that Americans deserve to afford health care. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who’s about the most extreme Republican on Earth, has said that her own family cannot afford health care if Republicans get away with this. She supports the Democrats’ plan to support the Affordable Care Act. So when you have Republicans like that on our side. Why on earth would you give in?”
