At midnight on Wednesday, the federal government shut down. Democrats made good on their promise to vote against a continuing resolution if Republicans didn’t extend expiring Obamacare tax credits, and funding expired. Now, both sides are digging in to play the blame game.
Democrats argue that Republicans are to blame for refusing to budge on health care, while Republicans blame Democrats for refusing to provide the votes to keep the government open. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is making an unprecedented threat to not just furlough federal workers — normal for a shutdown — but lay them off outright and go after programs Democrats support.
To try and make sense of how we got here and what’s happening now, Today Explained co-host Sean Rameswaram spoke with Democratic Sen. Elizabeth W