Claire McCaskill hints Democrats could be at fault for a government shutdown

MSNBC analyst and former Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill said Monday that if there is a government shutdown, Democrats could be the party at fault.  

“Here’s the other problem that Democrats have,” McCaskill said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” adding, “If they end up being the reason that the government shuts down, that muddles their message that, in fact, it’s the Trump Administration that is trying to shut down your government services like Social Security, like Medicaid, like veterans benefits.” 

A vote on a continuing resolution is expected on Tuesday to fund the federal government ahead of the March 14th deadline and avoid a partial government shutdown. 

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While McCaskill said she expects the continuing resolution to pass, she did take a dig at Republicans, claiming they want to take away access to Medicaid. 

“I predict, like all other CR drama, that they will pass a CR this week and they will continue the current levels of government funding until September,” McCaskill said. “But then the train wreck comes … Then they have to cut Medicaid to give rich people a tax cut. And people don’t realize what Medicaid does. I think people have in their mind Medicaid is just for poor people in the cities.” 

In a Saturday press release, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., urged his colleagues to vote no on the continuing resolution, saying, “The partisan House Republican funding bill recklessly cuts healthcare, nutritional assistance and $23 billion in veterans benefits. Equally troublesome, the legislation does nothing to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, while exposing the American people to further pain throughout this fiscal year. We are voting No.” 

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President Donald Trump has said he does not want to cut Medicaid, but left the door open to reviewing the program for fraud.

“Medicare, Medicaid, none of that stuff is going to be touched,” Trump said in a Feb. 18, 2025 interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “Now, if there are illegal migrants in the system, we’re going to get them out of the system, and all of that fraud.  But it’s not going to be touched.” 

McCaskill said that while she disagrees with the way Republicans are operating, she thinks Democrats shouldn’t prevent “cutting wasteful spending.” 

“The messaging here is a little muddled for the Democrats, because it’s very important that Democrats don’t stand in the way of cutting wasteful spending,” McCaskill said. 

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She continued by criticizing the GOP approach: “But the way these guys are doing it, they’re not cutting fat, they’re basically breaking bones of government service to America. And it is so haphazard. It is so without merit. It is so unfair. And people are going to start feeling it.” 

“That’s a separate issue than whether or not they’re going to pass this continuing resolution that basically pushes the ball down the field, doesn’t do anything really except extend current funding,” McCaskill said.