SCETV's TWISC in DC: Lindsey Graham talks proposals to end shutdown as Senate deadlocked
SCETV's This Week in South Carolina host Gavin Jackson reports from Washington, D.C. Oct. 6-8, speaking with South Carolina's federal delegation members amid an ongoing federal government shutdown.
PBS News Hour's Lisa Desjardins on the shutdown
PBS News Hour's congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins spoke with SCETV's Gain Jackson on Wednesday about the federal government shutdown on why this one is different from those she has covered in the past and why Democrats are standing their ground on health insurance subsidies.
"This is probably their only shot," Desjardins said about Democrats trying to extend expiring subsidies for health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act. "And it's because they don't control any branch of government—they don't control the White, House, not the House, not the Senate. This is really the only little bit of leverage they have at this point."
The interview with Desjardins is available on South Carolina ETV's YouTube page.
Sixth shutdown vote fails
A vote in the U.S. Senate to keep the federal government temporarily funded through mid-November failed Wednesday evening as Democrats remain steadfast in their demand to include health insurance subsidies in the measure.
This was the sixth failed vote since the Senate received the continuing resolution approved by the House on Sept. 19—the last time House members were in session. The shutdown is now in its ninth day and both sides remain dug in with no resolution in sight.
Graham 'floored' by DOJ phone data revelation
Sen. Lindsey Graham told SCETV's Gavin Jackson that he was told by FBI officials on Monday that he was one of eight senators whose phone data from early January 2021 was obtained by the FBI and special counsel Jack Smith as part of a now closed investigation into the January 6 riot.
Graham, who was Senate Judiciary Committee chairman at the time and voted to certify the 2020 election results the day of the riot, said he was floored by the revelation.
"It's not okay to seize the phone records of an existing United States senator who has a constitutional duty to vote to certify the election and the Judiciary [Committee] chairman should hold hearings," Graham said. "No, it's not okay at all. Not at all. I don't know what happened, but we're going to get to the bottom of it. And if it's an abuse of the Constitution, I will sue."
Johnson continues to urge Senate Democrats to act on shutdown
Speaker Mike Johnson continued to blame Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer during a Wednesday morning press conference with other House Republican leaders as they called on Senate Democrats to act.
“We just need a stop gap measure to give us a little more time to get the job of Congress done,” Johnson said. “They [Democrats] refuse to do it because they’re playing politics and real Americans are paying the price for it.”
The Senate is set to vote for a sixth time on the continuing resolution. It previously failed 45-50 on Monday evening.
House Democrats are set to hold a press briefing at noon.
Democrats want the extension Affordable Care Act subsidies included in the continuing resolution as they fear Republicans won't extend them otherwise. Johnson and other Republicans have said the funding measure is not the place to have a policy debate and blame Schumer for using the debate to shore up his progressive bona fides ahead of a potential primary challenge. Schumer isn't up for reelection until 2028.
Federal government shutdown enters Day 8
The federal government shutdown has now dragged on for more than a week as House members stay out of town and the Senate remains deadlocked after its fifth vote Monday evening.
Senate Republicans did vote to approve a bloc of more than 100 Trump administration nominees Tuesday evening.
House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republican leaders are set to hold a news conference at 10 a.m.
Federal employees are set to miss their first paycheck this Friday while the Trump administration threatens to not give backpay to federal employees—both furloughed and those deemed essential who have been working throughout the shutdown,.
The Associated Press reports that flight delays are also stacking up around the country amid air traffic controller staffing shortages. The Federal Aviation Administration reported staffing issues at airports in Nashville, Boston, Dallas, Chicago and Philadelphia, and at its air traffic control centers in Atlanta, Houston and the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The agency temporarily slowed takeoffs of planes headed to the first three cities.
SC's Graham talks shutdown with TWISC host Gavin Jackson
The federal government shutdown entered Day 7 on Tuesday, with no end in sight.
So far, Senate Democrats and Republicans have been unable to find a compromise on competing funding measures to end the shutdown and keep the government open.
Republicans are looking to pass a bill that funds the government until Nov. 21.
Democrats' funding proposal includes a provision that would extend the health insurance tax credits.
In Washington, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham sat down with This Week in South Carolina host Gavin Jackson before the chamber gaveled back in Tuesday afternoon.
The state's senior U.S. senator told Jackson he hopes some "common sense, I hope, will prevail."
Meanwhile, the House, which already passed a short-term funding bill, is out of session.
Stalemate in the Senate as shutdown stretches to Day 7
The U.S. Senate on Monday failed to reach an end to the federal government shutdown.
Proposals brought separately by Senate Democrats and Republicans did not reach the necessary 60 votes to pass, bringing the shutdown to Day 7 as of Tuesday.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina's senior senator, was in the Upstate on Monday.
He spoke briefly to reporters in Greenville before heading back to Washington.
“There are more and more Democrats understanding this is not working for them,” Graham said, according to the Post and Courier.
Stories from across South Carolina:
- Post and Courier: Sen. Lindsey Graham says shutdown will end this week: ‘We're just not going to be held hostage’
- Greenville News: Sen. Lindsey Graham vows Republicans won't give in to healthcare subsidies to end shutdown
- SC Daily Gazette: SC’s 40,000 military members remain on duty without pay amid federal government shutdown
- Post and Courier: Government shutdown could impact hurricane forecasting and other SC environmental work
TWISC to interview fed delegation members as shutdown continues
Gavin Jackson, host of SCETV's This Week in South Carolina, reports from Washington this week amid the ongoing federal government shutdown.
Jackson's reporting trip will cover the state's nine-member federal delegation.
The trip was planned to coincide with the start of the new federal fiscal year, which started Oct. 1. The trip, however, has instead coincided with a stalemate in Congress that has no signs of letting up.
The Senate is set to vote again Monday, but eight Democrats need to join Republicans.
After a fourth failed vote on the U.S. House-approved continuing resolution in the Senate on Friday, House Speaker Mike Johnson said his chamber would not return this week.
While Congress remains deadlocked, life continues in the nation's capital.
There are some signs of the shutdown's impacts.
The U.S. Capitol Visitors Center is closed.
Smithsonian Institution museums will remain open until Oct. 11 thanks to private donations previously collected. But a sign outside of the National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden gates stated the area was closed due to the federal shutdown.
Despite the shutdown, TWISC's Jackson plans to speak with several members of the delegation that will be featured in exclusive online videos, posts and episodes of This Week in South Carolina and the South Carolina Lede podcast.
