Senate Democrats are deliberately prolonging the government shutdown to gain political advantage ahead of next week's elections in New Jersey, Virginia, and New York City, Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., told Newsmax on Saturday.
"They know their base will go bananas and be discouraged if they cave right now to this artificial shutdown," the New York Republican said on Newsmax's "Saturday Report," adding that President Donald Trump is doing "everything possible" to keep critical programs such as SNAP funded and to find resources to pay U.S. troops.
But the Democrats, she said, want to "have a record" on the shutdown to use in upcoming political battles.
"They're going to do a bunch of commercials — you know, 'Trump forced the shutdown, took money away' — when really the truth is this is their money, their funding levels, when they controlled all of government," said Tenney.
Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's continuing resolution relies on "Biden COVID-era funding," but the Democrats' move is a "stunt," she said.
"They've admitted it openly," Tenney told show host Rita Cosby. "You've heard Schumer say, 'Every day of the shutdown gets better for us.' You've heard [House Minority Whip] Katherine Clark say, ‘So what? The people have to suffer and feel some pain. It's the only leverage we have.'”
Turning to New York City's elections, Tenney warned that a mayoral victory by Zohran Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist candidate, would have "dangerous" consequences for the state.
"He's a Marxist," she said. "This is a guy who wants to take over the means of production. He talks right out of the Marxist handbook."
"I lived in a communist country, the former Yugoslavia, and I know how bad socialism is," she added. "It always fails. It always hurts people, and to do this in the city of New York is a travesty.”
Tenney also described Mamdani as a "snake-oil salesman" and said he conceals his radical record and misleads voters.
"There's nothing democratic about it. It's authoritarianism," she said. "They're willing to say and do anything. I think he's going to win. There's no stopping him. The train wreck is already happening."
Tenney added that the Democratic Party's embrace of far-left politics shows what she called its "total collapse," warning that "all they care about is power, manipulation, and lies."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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