‘What’s going on?’ CNN’s Dana Bash pans Senate Dems for murky message on funding bill
CNN’s Dana Bash panned Senate Democrats for trying and failing to “hash out” a clear message on whether to allow a government shutdown, or give Donald Trump and Elon Musk exactly what they want in the latest spending bill.
Bash appeared on CNN News Central Friday where she condemned the Democrats’ ambiguity on the outcome they want to see when the Senate votes whether to pass the bill or prepare for a government shutdown.
“I’ve been hearing privately from Senate Democrats since the discussions began — and certainly this week, as they have been heating up about what to do — and that is the lack of clarity,” Bash said. “The fact that the Senate Democrats met privately not once, not twice, but three times in rooms trying to hash this out with no sense from their leadership until late yesterday of where they wanted to go.”
Bash said that the leadership’s lack of direction “leaves the the base…which is understandably frustrated, to say, like, ‘What’s going on?’ And then the Senators, because they don’t have a clear strategy, they don’t have a clear message. And so what you’re hearing and seeing is all of these Democrats kind of scrambling to try to figure out the best way to approach this, as opposed to the leader saying, until last night…saying, ‘This is the way we’re going to go.'”
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On Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) finally said publicly that he plans vote for the spending bill. He also penned an Op-Ed in The New York Times, arguing that Donald Trump and Elon Musk “would love a shutdown” and it was up to Democrats not to “hand them one.”
Bash explained the crux of Schumer’s argument, that “the executive branch is looking for any excuse that they possibly can find to get rid of federal workers. Well, if the federal workers aren’t there, the idea is that it would be easier to do that.”
But Democrats like Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) who appeared earlier on CNN, says voting for the bill gives Trump too much “leverage.”
“Look, there are no clear answers. This is really, really difficult,” Bash said. “All we know is that this is a week where there has been outrage at Donald Trump about trade, about cuts, and we’re ending the week with the focus somehow being back on Democrats who aren’t even in charge. That is not a good political winning situation for the minority right now.”
