Rep. Ritchie Torres on Senate CR Vote

Today, Congressman Ritchie Torres (NY-15) released the following statement:

“The Senate Democrats voting ‘Yes’ are making a strategic miscalculation that we as a party might live to regret. The CR represents the best (and possibly only) leverage that we as Democrats will have to halt or impede Donald Trump’s systematic decimation of the social safety net—particularly Medicaid.

“If Republicans had chosen the bipartisan path, we could have easily negotiated a bipartisan compromise that averts a government shutdown, as we have done repeatedly in the past. But when Republicans choose a partisan path, the burden falls on them to produce the Republican votes necessary for passing a Republican CR. Bailing them out without extracting anything in return is political malpractice.”