Sen. Christopher Coons (D., Del.) voted against a spending bill to keep the government open on Friday, but he said Sunday "the government should not be shut down" and he was not a legislative "arsonist."
All but five Senate Democrats voted against a spending bill Friday to keep the government funded through Feb. 16, mainly due to their objections to it not addressing the "Dreamers," the young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children who were protected from deportation by Barack Obama's 2012 DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) executive order.
President Donald Trump rescinded DACA in September and gave Congress until March to find a legal solution, meaning it did not need to be addressed this month.
Since 60 votes were needed in the Senate to overcome a filibuster and keep the government open, Republicans—all but four of whom voted for the continuing resolution—Democrats forced the shutdown in their near total unity.
Coons was one of the "no" votes, and he defended his decision on "Fox News Sunday."
"The government should not be shut down," Coons said. "That's why I spent all day yesterday listening to, working with—
"You voted to shut it down," host Chris Wallace interjected. "You voted against the CR."
Coons retorted he voted against a "30-day CR," saying in his defense that Pentagon chief James Mattis also opposed that kind of stopgap spending bill.
Wallace then played clips of current Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) in 2013 blasting Republicans for forcing a government shutdown in a futile effort to defund Obamacare.
At the time, Pelosi called them "legislative arsonists," and Schumer said shutting down the government to try to pass separate immigration reform, for instance, would be "governmental chaos."
"Senator, right now, aren't you the legislative arsonist? Aren't you, right now, taking the government hostage?" Wallace asked.
"Chris, just because a bipartisan group of Democrats and Republicans voted Friday night, including me, against a 30-day CR, doesn't mean I'm an arsonist," Coons said, saying he did want to keep the government open.
"It's the same point," Wallace said. "They shut down the government because they didn't like Obamacare. You're shutting down the government because there are certain things you were insisting on."
Coons didn't dispute Wallace, saying he wasn't spending his time pointing fingers at the White House or anyone else.