Dem Whip Clark on Past Dem Rhetoric Against Shutdowns: This Shutdown’s Different, But Also It’s Not Our FaultIan Hanchett 22 Oct 2025
On Wednesday’s “CNN News Central,” House Minority Whip Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA) responded to a question on previous arguments from Democrats that it’s wrong to shut down the government by saying that “the difference between this shutdown and this administration and from others that I’ve served under, and that we’ve certainly seen in recent history” is that Trump misuses the budget but also “the idea that, somehow, when they control the House, the Senate, and the White House, that this is on Democrats is really a preposterous one to me.”
While discussing remarks from Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), co-host Brianna Keilar asked, “[H]e says it’s fundamentally wrong to shut the government down, which is something Democrats have argued in the past when Republicans were doing it. At this point in time, because of this budget, we hear you, we hear Democrats saying it’s different, it’s not fundamentally wrong. Explain that. Why? And why do you think that John Fetterman has it wrong here?”
Clark answered, “Here’s the difference between this shutdown and this administration and from others that I’ve served under, and that we’ve certainly seen in recent history: We have a president who, from the moment he took office, has been using the budget — which it is federal law and under the Constitution that, we, here in Congress, set the budget — as his private slush fund. He takes it from programs he doesn’t like. He gives it to programs he does like. We’ve watched this very recently in the Department of Education, where he has decimated special education funding in this country, something that many, many parents and schools deserve and need in order to provide for all of our students. He has done this over and over again. And so, at each point in this budget process, we have said, you have to abide by the law, you have to respect that we are voted and elected to represent people, and that, when Congress sets budgets, setting the levels for SNAP, for our veterans’ benefits, for health care in this country, that is something that you should abide by. Not only does he not do that, he uses his bully pulpit to take more from the American people.”
Clark added, “I believe that we are in a situation here where Sen. Fetterman sees no difference in how this administration is approaching this budget and acting lawfully and constitutionally and putting the needs of the American people first and any other administration. I certainly disagree with him about that, because what we’re seeing here is a Speaker Johnson (R-LA) in the House, when we said we cannot — we have opposed this budget at every single point, but let’s not shut down government, let’s come together and talk about this. His response, he has shut down the House, he has shut down the House, and said, I simply don’t care. I don’t care what happens to federal workers. I don’t care what happens to these SNAP programs. I don’t care what happens to people’s health care. And so, the idea that, somehow, when they control the House, the Senate, and the White House, that this is on Democrats is really a preposterous one to me. And they have — you have seen them try to cover for their inexcusable strategy of taking healthcare funding, of taking food programs away from our kids and our seniors in order to fund tax cuts. That is the strategy. That is what they are doing. And the fact that they are inflicting even more pain and injecting further cruelty by threatening to not repay people, federal workers who are working without pay, it just further shows the callousness [with] which they view working people. At the same time, we have a president who, what is he talking about? He’s talking about building a ballroom. Let that sink in for working people in this country.”
https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2025/10/22/dem-whip-clark-on-past-dem-rhetoric-against-shutdowns-this-shutdowns-different-but-also-its-not-our-fault/
