Late night hosts seek clarity, find dark humor in the Democrats' legislative hostage mess
"We may be approximately 24 hours from the United States government shutting down, and that's not even the bad news," Stephen Colbert said on Wednesday's Late Show. "The U.S. government is also rapidly approaching the debt ceiling," which, if it isn't raised by mid-October, will unleash "financial Armageddon," he said. That would be "bad news — and even worse timing, because America has already scheduled a plague Armageddon, a climate Armageddon, and a democracy Armageddon."
Worse still, Democrats want to raise the debt ceiling and Senate Republicans are blocking them, "so this is a totally avoidable crisis," Colbert said. "It would be like knowing there was a lifesaving medicine available during a pandemic, and not taking it. Wait, wait! Maybe we should inject the budget with horse paste." Democrats also have to pass their $3.5 trillion Build Back Better package the bipartisan infrastructure bill, "and here's the problem — and it's two problems," he said: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Sen. Krysten Sinema (D-Ariz.) are "holding up the entire government but they won't tell anyone what they want."
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