In an interview with MSNBC’s Chuck Todd on The Daily Rundown Wednesday, Democratic Senator and Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) urged Speaker Boehner and the Republican Conference to legislate in a bipartisan spirit, while simultaneously refusing to negotiate with Republicans in the House of Representatives.
"We have to chart a course to face the problems squarely in a bipartisan way," Sen. Durbin said, citing the Senate farm and immigration bills passed earlier this year.
But when asked by Todd whether Senate Democrats would pass a permanent repeal of the medical device tax – a notion that the Senate has previously favored with large bipartisan support – as a means for negotiating with House Republicans over the government shutdown, Sen. Durbin flatly refused:
"I think there are many issues to the Affordable Care Act that could be discussed including the medical device tax. But let’s be honest. We are not even going to have that conversation until the government is reopened and the debt ceiling is authorized."
