Chris Murphy Confronted Live on CNN Over Americans Going Hungry Due to Schumer’s Shutdown [WATCH]

CNN’s Jake Tapper questioned Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut on Sunday about whether Democrats are prepared to let food assistance funding lapse in order to secure an extension of Obamacare subsidies, as the federal government shutdown stretches into its second month.

The exchange took place on “State of the Union,” where Tapper asked Murphy directly if Democrats were willing to let the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) run out of money as part of their push to extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies.

“Funding for food stamps is expected to run out at the end of this week,” Tapper said.

“This is happening because Democrats have not agreed to vote to fund the government without the Republicans making concessions to seriously change health care policy. So is this a trade-off you’re willing to make and continue to make, letting some Americans go hungry until these Obamacare subsidies get extended?”

Murphy declined to give a yes-or-no answer, instead accusing Republicans of blocking bipartisan negotiations.

“We’re shut down right now because Republicans are refusing to even talk to Democrats about a bipartisan budget bill,” Murphy responded.

“As you know, the reason we didn’t shut down for four years when Joe Biden was president was because Democrats negotiated with Republicans, and every single one of those short-term or long-term funding bills included both Democratic and Republican priorities. So the government shut down because Republicans have done something unprecedented: they have refused to talk to Democrats about a bipartisan budget.”

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Democrats have refused to back any funding deal that omits an extension of Obamacare subsidies, which are set to expire.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has led his caucus in blocking every Republican proposal to reopen the government since the Oct. 1 shutdown began, insisting that any bill must include the continuation of the health care subsidies.

Murphy defended the Democrats’ position by citing the potential impact on health care costs.

“One of our priorities is pretty simple: making sure that premiums don’t go up by 75% for 22 million families this fall,” Murphy said.

“Now, the reality is, if they sat down to try to negotiate, we could probably come up with something pretty quickly.”

The White House and congressional leaders have held several meetings since the shutdown began, but no agreement has been reached.

President Donald Trump canceled a planned meeting with top Democratic lawmakers shortly before the Sept. 30 funding deadline, though the two sides later met at the White House.

The talks ended without progress, leaving most federal operations unfunded.

During the interview, Murphy also referenced the administration’s recent $20 billion foreign aid package to Argentina, arguing that the same amount could be used to resolve the shutdown and restore government funding.

“The president just announced $20 billion going to bail out the Argentinian economy. For $20 billion, we could open the government back up, that’s enough money to relieve a lot of pressure from these premium increases,” he said.

“We could get this deal done in a day if the president was in D.C. rather than overseas. We could open up the government on Tuesday or Wednesday, and there wouldn’t be any crisis in the food.”

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program provides aid to more than 40 million Americans nationwide.

Without congressional action, SNAP will lose funding on Nov. 1, prompting at least two dozen states to warn that they will suspend benefits if the shutdown continues.

The ongoing impasse marks the second-longest government shutdown since 1981.

Republican lawmakers have introduced multiple measures to reopen the government and provide temporary funding for critical programs, but all have been blocked in the Senate.

Schumer and Democratic leadership have maintained that no deal will move forward without the inclusion of the ACA subsidy extension and other Democratic priorities.

As of Sunday, Senate negotiations remain at a standstill, leaving food assistance recipients, federal employees, and millions of Americans uncertain about how long the shutdown will continue.