Washington Examiner chief political correspondent Byron York said Republicans want Democrats to pay the price for shutting down the government.
Republicans “are hoping, I think, that it would move the needle with voters a little bit,” York said on Fox News’ Special Report with Bret Baier. “Not all the way until next year’s midterms, but at least in the short term.”
The government reopened this week after a 43-day shutdown, marking the longest in history.
The shutdown began because Democrats wanted to attach Obamacare subsidies to a measure to keep the government open. Republicans refused to discuss extending the subsidies until the government reopened.
When asked if Republicans were playing “rope-a-dope” about a vote for the Obamacare subsidies, York said Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) promised them a vote, not that they would win.
York said that Republicans are “enjoying” the turmoil on the Democratic side.
“But I think [for Republicans], also there is a sense of frustration in the sense they would like there to be a price to be paid for shutting down the government for 43 days,” York said.
In his appearance on Fox News, York also discussed President Donald Trump’s interview with Laura Ingraham.
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York added that Trump seemed “completely out of touch” when the president told Ingraham that the polls about people feeling anxiety about their finances are fake.
“There’s a lot of people in that situation, and Trump appeared to just completely dismiss the whole thing,” York said.