Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) painted a grim picture Sunday of ongoing negotiations to re-open the government and increase the debt limit.
“I think things are not moving now,” Corker said on Fox News Sunday. “The last 24 hours have not been good.”
In the last 24 hours, Senate Democrats and the White House have formally rejected the House GOP’s latest pitch, which raised the ceiling but didn’t fund the government. Senate Republicans filibustered a clean debt-limit increase, and a long-term deal forwarded by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), which would have delayed Obamacare’s medical device tax, was rejected by Senate Democratic leadership.
Corker placed blame for the gridlock on both sides, criticizing Republicans for attacking Obamacare and Democrats for reportedly aiming to replace the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration.
“Republicans started off in a place that was an overreach, to defund a law that was central to the president’s agenda was not achievable,” Corker said. “Now Democrats are I think getting too cute. They now are overreaching.”
“It’s not clear to me how this ends because there is such disarray.”
