AOC Denies Role In ‘Schumer Shutdown’ As Talks Between Dems, GOP Stall

during an MSNBC interview Tuesday evening that she was responsible for Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer’s decision not to support a GOP stopgap funding measure, allowing the federal government to shut down.

She did, however, step up to support Democrats who have demanded an extension of Obamacare subsidies to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars, which Republicans have dismissed as a non-starter.

Her remarks came after host Chris Hayes noted that rumors are flying on Capitol Hill that Schumer is blocking the funding bill in an attempt to appease the Democratic Party’s growing left-wing base, of which ‘AOC’ is a part, out of fear she will primary him in 2028.

“So let me ask you this. There are some people I have seen who have the following theory of why Senate Democrats have not cut a deal where they give eight votes and, you know, move, move along. And that is that Chuck Schumer is worried about a primary challenge from you and is worried about the politics to his left flank. And so because of that, worry about a primary challenge. He’s going to shut down the government,” Hayes began.

“Ergo, it is aoc’s fault that the government is shutting down or that your that you’re somehow the fulcrum of this. And I want to just ask you straight up, like, are you planning to primary challenge him? Do you think that’s why he’s doing this?” he asked.

“This is so not about me in this moment. This is about people being able to insure their children. And I will say, because I saw some senators speculating about this, and I saw some Republican members of Congress saying, Oh, well, if we have this shutdown, it’s because of AOC,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

“Well, if that’s the case, my office is open and you are free to walk in and negotiate with me directly, because what I’m not going to do is tolerate 4 million uninsured Americans, because Donald Trump decided one day that he wants to just make sure that kids are dying because they don’t have access to insurance. That’s what’s not going to happen,” she claimed without offering any hard data to support her statement.

“And so if those senators think that we’re having a shutdown because of me, they’re free to enter my office and negotiate, because what we’re not going to do is allow all of millions of people in this country to not be able to afford their insulin and their chemotherapy. So come strike a deal with me, if that’s what they really think is going on,” the Bronx Democrat said.

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