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Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, told Katie Couric Monday that he believes many critics of his vote to end the government shutdown have been falsely stirred up by progressives.
King was one of eight Senate Democratic caucus members who broke with the party to advance a short-term spending package on Sunday evening, putting the government on the path to reopening.
King and his fellow senators have received backlash from Democratic Party members over this vote, with critics suggesting that they "caved" to the Republicans without gaining anything in return. Speaking with Couric on her podcast, he said that reactions have been "varied," but believes most of it stems from a misunderstanding of the situation.
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"People are upset, but one of the things that bothers me is that the reason they're upset is that they've been spun up, I think, on this, that this shutdown is somehow the be-all and the end-all to discipline Donald Trump and solve the ACA problem when it's neither of those things," King said. "That's one of the problems with the environment that we're in right now."
Though he said he respected colleagues like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who disagreed with his vote, he rejected their premise that ending the shutdown would be caving to President Donald Trump.
"Ask them what their endgame was," King said. "How would they feel if it's Christmas, we still haven't gotten any negotiations, the law is about to expire in a week and, in the meantime, people haven't gotten SNAP benefits for two months and there's virtually no air travel in the country? That's the question that no one will answer."
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The shutdown, which has become the longest in U.S. history, began on Oct. 1 when Democrats rejected a short-term spending bill advanced by Republicans in the House meant to keep the government afloat until Nov. 21.
Democrats demanded that lawmakers first consider renewing COVID-era Obamacare subsidies set to phase out at the end of the year. Republicans, who saw spending and the tax credits as unrelated, refused to negotiate on the tax credits during the shutdown.
Earlier that morning, King explained on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that he voted to end the shutdown after believing that it no longer helped the goal of renewing the tax credits.
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"After six weeks - going on seven weeks - that path wasn't working," he said. "It wasn't going to happen. The question was: Does the shutdown further the goal of achieving some needed support for the extension of the tax credits? Our judgment was that it will not produce that result."
The package advanced by the Senate on Sunday looks to reopen the government through Jan. 30, 2026. The legislation still needs to be approved by the House before it is sent to Trump's desk for signature.
