Lawrence O’Donnell called out congressional Republicans Tuesday night for their conduct during the ongoing government shutdown, which is expected to pass the 30-day mark this week. He specifically highlighted the number of vacations that right-wing politicians have taken during this impasse.
O’Donnell first turned his anger on House Speaker Mike Johnson and the “vacation” he allowed Republicans to take during the shutdown. “House Speaker Mike Johnson rewarded House Republicans for shutting down the government with a permanent paid furlough that is now in its sixth week and could last for months,” O’Donnell said on Tuesday’s “The Last Word.”
“Johnson sent them on vacation more than a week before the government shutdown,” the MSNBC host explained. Notably, he is not the only prominent public figure to criticize Republicans for taking a “vacation” during the shutdown. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also condemned some of his Republican counterparts for not working around the clock to resolve the shutdown.
“They’ve had more vacations this year than most Americans have had in three years,” O’Donnell lamented. “Republican lawmakers haven’t worked a day since Mike Johnson led them to bring down the government.” You can watch the full “Last Word” segment yourself in the video below.
In the second half of the segment, O’Donnell expanded his contempt to include President Trump. The “Last Word” host called out Trump and Republicans for failing to end the shutdown in time to prevent Americans’ SNAP benefits from running out.
“After starting the year by allowing the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, to shut down the United States Agency for International Development and thereby deprive starving children of American food in the midst of famine in Africa,” O’Donnell recalled, “Republicans have 1761761407 chose to bring the spirit of this policy home and take food away from children who rely on these food stamp benefits.
“40 percent of those fed through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are children,” O’Donnell concluded. “Now we are on the verge, for the first time in the 21st century, of millions of people in America and children in America actually knowing what it means to starve. Republicans have done that.”
