Senator John Cornyn joined me today to talk about the Schumer Shutdown:
Audio:
Transcript:
HH: You know, I pride myself on bringing you breaking news, but rarely do I get a United States Senator fresh from the floor. Senator John Cornyn, senior senator from Texas, joins us. Senator Cornyn, thank you. I know things are busy, but we caught a picture of you trying to talk some sense into your Democratic colleagues there. What were you telling them?
JC: Well, I told them that no negotiations while they shut down the government.
HH: Good message.
JC: What they claim is, that they want to do is they want to negotiate, or actually hold hostage, the floor and the government to their ability to extend enhanced premium support for Obamacare subsidies. And I’ve told them we’re not going to talk about it as long as the government is shut down. So that’s job number one.
HH: Now Senator, last night, three members of their caucus crossed over.
JC: Yeah.
HH: Senator King is an independent, and two Democrats. That’s not really a sign of strength for Senator Schumer, is it?
JC: No, I agree. And we’ll see how long it lasts. You know, Hugh, I’ve always thought the Democrats, being the party of government, would never agree to a shutdown. But I think they’ve become so frustrated, and the resistance to President Trump so strong, that they’re willing to do things that they never would have considered before as to demonstrate their willingness to fight to their own political base. And of course, Senator Schumer is fighting for his political survival among an increasingly progressive and left-leaning base of the Democratic Party.
HH: Well, does anyone, is anyone fooled? I really ask this earnestly, because I’ve told the audience, my audience, it’s a Schumer shutdown for two weeks.
JC: Yeah, absolutely.
HH: And it’s because he’s afraid of AOC. Does anyone in D.C. not know that? I mean, are they delusional?
JC: Yeah, I think somewhat delusional. I mean, they’ve, some of them have convinced themselves that this is all about insurance premiums for healthcare. And of course, we need to pay attention to that. Access to healthcare is important. But on top of the massive subsidies to insurance companies that the Obamacare bill provided about ten years ago, during COVID, Joe Biden used that emergency to basically blow the lid off the amount of money that his being spent on healthcare, and enriching insurance companies and not really helping people who need it the most. So there’s a time and place for us to have that discussion. We need to do it before the end of the year, but this is not the time nor the place during the Schumer shutdown.
HH: Now Senator, you’ve been there long enough. You know that there’s always a party that loses in a shutdown. Typically, it’s Republicans.
JC: Yeah.
HH: I went to all nine of the major outlets this morning, the Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN.com, FoxNews.com, Punchbowl, Politico, Semafor, and Axios. Not one of them said Schumer shutdown. Not one said Schumer shutdown. And everybody knows it’s a Schumer shutdown, right? And it sticks. It’s like tattooed on the poor guy. I’m beginning to feel sorry for him. You’ve known him a long time. He’s not dumb. What does he think he gets out of this?
JC: Well, I think it’s his political survival. You remember last time that he agreed to a continuing resolution, which unfortunately has become a routine practice around here in lieu of the regular appropriations process. Last time he agreed to it, he got excoriated by the left, and for actually doing the responsible thing at the time. So he’s not going to make that mistake again, because he knows it’s their base that’s completely frustrated, and got Trump Derangement Syndrome. They want to see some fight, and this is how they fight, even albeit in what I view is a losing battle. And who really loses is the 320 million or so Americans for whom they look at their government and they say these folks don’t know how to run a two-car funeral. So it’s really, it’s really deplorable.
HH: I wouldn’t even give them the hearse. Now Senator, there’s no incentive. Just correct me if I’m wrong. I don’t think there’s any incentive for any Republican at any level to negotiate with the Democrats on anything during a shutdown.
JC: No.
HH: Because they’re going to lose ground every day. Have I got that right?
JC: Yeah, and your point earlier I meant to comment on is the press is, of course, what the Democrats depend on, is the selective reporting of the press here on Capitol Hill suggesting it’s got to be the Republicans’ fault. But what they fail to mention is it’s the Democrats who are preventing us to passing a clean continuing resolution that’s only good for nine weeks, until November the 20th, at which time hopefully we get back into more a regular appropriations process. So it’s surreal, but that’s the way, I think…
HH: Well, Senator, I wrote already, I filed a column for Fox News in the morning. And it’s going to make the argument that the blue bubble is very bad for Democrats, because they don’t know how much they don’t know. They read the Beltway press. They talk to each other. They go to New York. They fly to L.A. to raise money, but they don’t know what the country knows. I think, tell me, for example, in Texas, is anyone fooled by this? I mean, you and Senator Cruz make the rounds. You get out. You talk to people. Is anyone in Texas fooled that this is other than a Schumer shutdown?
JC: Nobody. Nobody. It’s, and I think Schumer’s proud of it, and it’s kind the way of how he’s trying to fight for his political survival, as we were discussing. But I don’t think anybody’s fooled, and I agree that we should not negotiate as long as a shutdown continues. And I know President Trump is there. I know the Speaker of the House of Representatives is there. And certainly, Majority Leader Thune, so that’s where we are until they’re willing to talk some sense.
HH: Now you and Leader Thune are tied for least likely to use the line from the Godfather, “Here’s my offer – nothing.” But that’s where we, I just want to put a line under it. That is the GOP position.
JC: Yeah.
HH: House, Senate, and President, correct? Here’s our offer – nothing?
JC: That’s correct. That’s correct. And Senator Thune’s been great, I think, about the way he’s handled this. This is maybe one of the first big trials that he’s had as majority leader. But obviously, we had a great record of success working with the President with the Working Families Tax Cut Act and other successes. And we are now confirming literally 100 more of the President’s nominees that have been bottlenecked as a result of this complete resistance to anything and everything having to do with Donald Trump. So we’re making good progress, but this is a bump in the road.
HH: Last question, Senator. During this shutdown of the federal government, will the Senate stay in session and keep confirming nominees, because that’s a win-win for my…look, I don’t want people not to get paid, especially I’ve got a son-in-law in the military. I don’t want him not to get paid. But that’s about two weeks off. They’ll fold before then, I think.
JC: Yeah.
HH: But in the meantime, will you keep doing the nominees?
JC: We will, and we’ll be, we just voted again here just a few minutes ago on the continuing resolution and the Democratic alternative, so to speak, and we’ll do that again at the end of the Yom Kippur holiday ending tomorrow night. We’ll do that on Friday. And then, we’ll be back again Monday, if not before, doing it again, giving Democrats another shot at it. But we’ve got three of them peeled off, and all we need is a few more to get to that magic number.
HH: Thank you, Senator Cornyn. Do not blink. I’m sure all your colleagues are saying the same thing. Just do not blink, because they, they’re in a box canyon. And Chuck Schumer’s going to go down in history as maybe, the poor guy is in an unwinnable situation with AOC over there on his left wing. But he ought to just gird up and fight her, not try and, this idiocy, I’ve never seen anything this dumb. In your career, on the Court when you were the Texas Supreme Court justice, or in the Senate, have you ever seen anything this dumb?
JC: No, and you know, what Schumer himself called it was idiocy back when he was complaining about Republicans. And so I guess what he would have to say is that what he’s doing is idiocy. I would concur with that, but it makes no sense other than for Chuck Schumer to try to save his political skin.
HH: Well, that’s not, you know, he’s going to be 78-years-old when he runs again. And if AOC takes him on, she’s going to win, so he might as well lose with some dignity. Senator John Cornyn, always good to see you, Senator. Thank you for helping to carry the message. I appreciate it greatly. John Cornyn, great man from Texas, senior senator from the Lone Star State.
End of interview.
