It’s been nearly a week since the federal government shut down, and the Republican Party — the party which holds power over the House, the Senate and the White House — continues to absolve itself of any blame. The method of justification here, as is always the case with the modern political right, is to make things up — to lie.
In Tennessee, the primary messenger of these lies is none other than Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn. As repeated ad nauseam by others in the GOP over the past week, the senator insists that Democrats have shut down the government in an effort to provide health care for “illegal” immigrants.
“Democrats are shutting down the government to spite President Trump, but Republicans won’t back down from this fight,” Blackburn said on Monday in a post on X. “Americans don’t want their tax dollars funding health care for illegals or other wasteful left-wing agenda items.”
“Republicans want government funding to benefit American citizens — not illegal aliens,” Blackburn said in another X post last week. “We will not be funding health care for illegals.”
What Blackburn is referring to here is one of the key demands from Senate Democrats in exchange for their votes — seven of which are needed in the Senate to overcome the 60-vote filibuster threshold to reopen the federal government.