On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Ana Cabrera Reports,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) stated that by threatening to fire government employees, President Donald Trump is strengthening the resolve of Democrats and stated that “He started punishing the federal workforce and punishing my commonwealth and hurting economic development projects his first day in office. … If he wanted to pressure folks to find a path forward, he would say, all of that will stop,” and federal workers in Virginia “are telling me, over and over again, the bullying has got to stop, and to stop it, you have to stand up to the bully.”
Host Erielle Reshef asked, “[E]ssentially, the President is threatening deeper cuts, threatening to make some of these furloughs permanent. You’ve said Republicans are scared to do anything without the President’s blessing. But it appears that his blessing is for this to continue, for the cuts to continue, he doesn’t want this to stop. So, is there a point at which your party feels pressure to come to the table to stop the bleeding?”
Kaine responded, “[T]he President’s going about it the wrong way. He’s stiffening our spine. Here would be the way he should pressure us: When government re-opens, there will be no more firing, there will be no more cancellation of economic development projects, there will be no more clawback of public health monies to Virginia. He started punishing the federal workforce and punishing my commonwealth and hurting economic development projects his first day in office. He said that there’s going to be more pain. It’s not an empty threat, we believe him. But he’s going to do it anyway. If he wanted to pressure folks to find a path forward, he would say, all of that will stop, and we will, instead, find a solution on this healthcare debacle that they’ve created with the reconciliation bill.”
He continued, “So, he is applying pressure that is stiffening the spines of Democrats. And I live in the state with the second-most federal workers, next, after California. Per capita, we have the most. I’ve been traveling around every weekend. The Senate is in session while the House has been home for four weeks now. But on weekends, I travel around Virginia, and my workers are telling me, over and over again, the bullying has got to stop, and to stop it, you have to stand up to the bully.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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