Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) mocked Republicans on Monday over their continued claims that Democrats would play a role in a possible government shutdown later this week.
“I think maybe you guys need to get a — take a refresher course in arithmetic. Last time I checked, you have the majority in the House and in the Senate and you control the White House,” said McGovern at a House rules committee hearing.
“The idea that somehow Democrats have the responsibility to pass a CR or any bill, quite frankly, where we don’t have any input on I think is ridiculous. You run around bragging about this big mandate. Well, put on your mandate pants and pass whatever you want to do.”
The congressman’s comments are a spin on Donald Trump’s talk of getting a “mandate” from Americans following his victory in November.
It’s also a term that Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) used while disrupting the president’s speech to Congress last week and one that Republicans have turned to while defending Trump’s agenda.
McGovern’s remarks arrive as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y) looks to put on a unified party front against the GOP’s stopgap spending bill, which House Republicans revealed Saturday.
Democrats have pushed back at GOP claims that their party should get blame for a possible government shutdown.
Jeffries, in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper last month, reminded Republicans that they control all three branches of government.
On Monday, McGovern predicted that his GOP colleagues would still secure the votes for the bill including the “so-called principled conservatives who don’t like CRs.”
“I think they are suffering from a case of Victoria Spartz syndrome where on Monday they are a hard ‘no’ and on Tuesday, they are a hard ‘yes.’ They’ll cave,” said McGovern of the Indiana Republican who flipped her vote on the budget framework after reportedly hearing it from Trump over the phone.
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“But the idea that somehow being in charge means that you don’t have to take the responsibility of running this place is absurd.”
The GOP-headed House rules committee ultimately voted to advance the bill, sending it to the House floor for a debate and vote as Friday’s government funding deadline looms.