The White House is firing back after House Minority Whip Katherine Clark admitted in a Fox News interview that Democrats see the Schumer Shutdown as a rare "leverage" moment worth the suffering of American families.
As is often the case with the Democrat Party, the truth is often accidental. And Clark, speaking to senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram late last week, gave away a little bit of the game.
Clark stated that the party's highest priority right now is delivering on healthcare, something the second-highest-ranking House Democrat calls "our defining issue."
But listen to what the actual defining issue is. Leverage, at the expense of suffering families.
"Shutdowns are terrible and, of course, there will be, you know, families that are going to suffer. We take that responsibility very seriously," Clark explains. "But it is one of the few leverage items we have."
🚨 @WhipKClark, the number two House Democrat, on the Democrat Shutdown: "Of course there will be families that are going to suffer... but it is one of the few leverage times we have."
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 22, 2025
These people are SICK! pic.twitter.com/7MRHsmGMGx
READ MORE: Trump Says Democrats Made ‘One Mistake’ With Schumer Shutdown - and Chuck's at the ‘End of the Line'
Republicans Excoriate Schumer After He Makes Damning Admission About His Shutdown
Everything is just a political game to them. This comment is dripping with callous elitism. The kind you might expect from Lord Farquaad, not a prominent Democrat lawmaker.
There is no daylight between what she is saying and this scene from "Shrek."
Clark's flippant admission that suffering is "of course" inevitable so long as they can take advantage of a leverage situation exposes the rot at the core of her party's playbook.
They're prioritizing power grabs over paychecks for workers. Republicans and the White House were quick to fire back.
Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) described Clark's comments as "shameful."
"[Clark] says the quiet part out loud. Democrats don’t care that Americans are suffering from the government shutdown," he wrote on X.
"The Democrats are now admitting that they are intentionally causing American families to 'suffer' with their reckless government shutdown," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt fired back. "What is wrong with them?"
🚨The Democrats are now admitting that they are intentionally causing American families to "suffer" with their reckless government shutdown.
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) October 22, 2025
What is wrong with them? https://t.co/MhFEsBweoJ
It's going to take forensic behavioral therapists (is that a thing?) eons to figure out what is wrong with today's Democrat party, Karoline.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson (LA-4), sensing that Clark had stepped in it with her inadvertent admission, has, according to reporter Emily Brooks, begun broadcasting the segment right outside his office doors.
You know, where Democrats staged a protest and accosted a Capitol Police officer - whose family is presumably suffering since they aren't being paid during the Schumer Shutdown - last week.
This clip is now on repeat outside Speaker Johnson’s office https://t.co/JZC53coSRi pic.twitter.com/enDYk0p3FP
— Emily Brooks (@emilybrooksnews) October 22, 2025
Clark isn't the only top Democrat who absolutely relishes the suffering of others. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the man most closely tied to the ongoing gridlock, admitted that the shutdown is a positive development. For who? Why, his party, of course!
"Every day gets better for us," he said, according to Punchbowl.
Think about that for a minute. Democrats are celebrating this shutdown. Schumer thinks the longer it drags out, the better. But for that to happen, Clark admits that some people gotta suffer.
Your "no kings" party in a nutshell. They're thriving, so long as you're not.
Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.
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