Senator John Kennedy (R-La.) addressed the U.S. Senate, criticizing Democrats for the ongoing government shutdown and questioning who is leading the party during negotiations. Kennedy described the situation as “melodrama,” stating, “I love the smell of melodrama in the morning. Smells like the United States Senate. I said the other day that this shutdown is just further proof that human evolution is a slow, slow process. This shutdown—what you’re witnessing now—is just further proof of why it took human beings thousands of years to learn how to stand upright.”
Kennedy expressed support for a two-party system, saying it fosters competition and improvement. He claimed internal competition within the Democratic Party has resulted in what he called “the socialist wing” gaining control: “The Democratic Party is competing within itself right now, and there is a distinct wing of the Democratic Party that is winning that competition. If I wanted to use a pejorative expression, I would call it the loon wing of the party . . . I think a more accurate description is to call it the socialist wing of the Democratic Party. . . . That [wing of the] party is in control.”
The senator questioned Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s role in current events: “Now, my friend, Sen. Schumer, is the leader of the Democrats in the United States Senate, and he, of course, has instructed his colleagues to vote to shut down government, and Sen. Schumer has been criticized for that. . . . But I don’t think Sen. Schumer is the person in charge, because Sen. Schumer is not the leader of the socialist wing of his party. Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez is. She’s running the show.” Kennedy referenced Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s recent comments about negotiating an end to the shutdown.
Kennedy outlined policy disagreements contributing to gridlock over government funding measures—including disputes over Medicaid reforms and Affordable Care Act subsidies: “[T]he first thing that socialists and Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez [are] asking us to do is to repeal health care reforms in One Big Beautiful Bill… Now, we didn’t cut Medicaid… In fact… Medicaid is going to increase 2% a year for ten years… What we did by reforming Medicaid… [is] cut out waste and fraud.” He also noted debate over pandemic-era subsidy expansions: “President Biden raised [the income] cap… families making $200,000 a year getting subsidies from taxpayers… The pandemic is over… at end of this year those extra subsidies are going to end… Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez says ‘No.’ Until you agree…to let anybody at income level get subsidies, we’re going to shut government down.”
He further mentioned objections from some House Democrats regarding budget cuts proposed by President Trump’s administration: “Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez got very upset… when president sent over what’s called a rescission package… Basically President Trump just said ‘We want you to take some stuff out of budget that we think is wasteful.’ And we did…”
Kennedy closed his remarks emphasizing disagreement with policy positions rather than personal animosity: “Now let me say it again Mr President: I don’t hate anybody… She can criticize my policy positions but I’m entitled to criticize hers…” He concluded with pointed criticism directed at Rep. Ocasio-Cortez.
