Overview
- Joe Kernen cut off a live Squawk Box interview with Sen. Rubén Gallego on Monday after persistent cross-talk over the federal funding standoff.
- Gallego said Democrats want an extension of ACA premium subsidies to avoid premium spikes for “24 million” people, including about 500,000 in Arizona.
- Kernen disputed Democrats’ price tag, arguing the subsidies could be extended for about $40 billion for one year or roughly $345 billion over ten years, versus the $1.5 trillion figure he said Democrats were seeking.
- In the exchange, Gallego dismissed questions about his past shutdown comments with “I don’t know and I don’t care,” and he objected to a rival pay bill he said would let the president decide which furloughed workers are paid.
- The shutdown remains unresolved as Republicans resist linking a continuing resolution to health-care provisions and Democrats hold to their subsidy demand.