Vice President JD Vance criticized Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for the recent government shutdown, attributing the closure to Senate Democrats’ demands related to benefits for undocumented immigrants. The shutdown began at midnight after negotiations stalled over Democratic proposals that included funding for healthcare and gender transition care.
Vance argued that these measures were not supported by most voters. He referenced a recent New York Times poll indicating that nearly half of Democratic respondents did not favor shutting down the government to advance such policy goals.
In an interview with Newsmax’s Mike Carter, Vance discussed a tweet he posted showing a 1990s clip of Schumer opposing taxpayer-funded benefits for undocumented immigrants. “Chuck Schumer once recognized that it was disastrous to give illegal aliens rewards for breaking the law. Now he wants to shut down the government unless we…reward illegal aliens for breaking the law,” Vance said.
He added, “We believe that the American people’s government exists for the American people. That means the people who have the legal right to be here, and that’s why we’re fighting to reopen the government. And unfortunately, the Democrats are fighting to shut it down for the benefit of illegal aliens.”
When asked about Schumer’s change in position on immigration policy, Vance responded, “That’s a good question. Actually, it’s a very tough question. Asking me to get in the head of Chuck Schumer is not a place I particularly want to be, but my basic read on it is that the entire Democratic Party, the political leadership— not every Democrat nationwide— but the political leadership of their party has got it into their heads that the only way to be compassionate is to be compassionate to illegal aliens, rather than American citizens.”
He continued by referencing past statements from former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama on immigration: “If you go back to what Bill Clinton was saying, even Barack Obama, in some cases, what he was saying about illegal immigration 10, 15, 20 years ago, you would put them on the MAGA-Right, based purely on their rhetoric around illegal immigration. So, I don’t know why they’ve gone so far to the left. I think it’s bad for the country. I think it’s bad for them politically. But our principle— all I can do is speak for the President that I serve and the country and administration that I serve right now.”
Earlier during his remarks at a briefing, Vance also accused Schumer of reacting out of concern over potential challenges from within his party: “The reality here…is that Chuck Schumer is terrified he’s going to get a primary challenge from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The reason why…the government is shut down is because Chuck Schumer is listening to far left radicals in his own party because he’s terrified of a primary challenge.”
Vance called on Schumer and moderate Democrats to work with Republicans: “So I’d invite Chuck Schumer to join moderate Democrats and 52 Senate Republicans, do the right thing, open up People’s Government and then let’s fix healthcare Policy for American people.”
