Scalise Accuses Dem Sen. Ossoff of Using Shutdown to Fundraise

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise went ballistic at a press conference Tuesday, accusing Senate Democrats of refusing to reopen the government as a campaign fundraising tool and out of fear of their base of support.

“It truly is fear, fear of their own party’s base that has driven the Democrats, especially in the Senate, to shut down the government,” Scalise, R-La., told reporters. “It’s a calculated decision, and the continued votes, including yesterday, to keep the government shut down, has been a direct result of the fear Democrats continue to have of their own party’s base.”

Scalise read from an article from The Hill, which quotes a “Democratic insider” who says Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., is considering the question of, “Do I vote to open the government up and get crushed and can’t raise a single dollar of low-dollar money or do I vote to shut the government down and get $3 million [from online fundraising]?”

Ossoff has voted against every Republican-backed bill to fund the government, including a Department of Defense funding bill, which would pay troops. Georgia is home to 13 military bases and is headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ossoff is seeking re-election in 2026 in the Peach State and says he has raised over $21 million in the race so far.

Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga. (Jemal Countess/Getty Images/Breakthrough T1D)

Scalise excoriated Ossoff for this alleged political ploy.

“That’s disgusting,” said Scalise. “Sen. Ossoff is more concerned about getting low dollar donations from maybe some donor in California who’s going to click on an email and give him $100 for his reelection, and so he’s causing suffering on tens of thousands of people in his home state of Georgia.“

He continued, “Sen. Ossoff ought to send that tainted, dirty money back if he’s raised $3 million off of the shutdown, off of the suffering he’s caused just so that he can get some more money from radicals around the country.”

Scalise argued that Democrats have hardened their stance due to political pressure.

“They’re scared to death of their base, because they want to keep getting low dollar donations from the most radical members of the Democrat party,” said Scalise. “What is there to offer to a party who’s so morally corrupt and bankrupt that they’re willing to sell out the American people because they’re either scared of their base or they want to just keep getting low dollar donations from donors around the country who are rooting for chaos for America?”

Georgia Democratic Party communications advisor Devon Cruz, who responded to The Daily Signal’s request for comment from the Ossoff campaign, said in response to Scalise’s remarks: “Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins would rather keep the government shutdown and skip out on work for the fourth week in a row than extend critical ACA tax credits and protect the affordable health care of 1.4 million Georgians who are already seeing how high their premiums would skyrocket under Carter and Collins’ harmful agenda.”

Carter and Collins are both Republican members of the House of Representatives, which has already passed the funding extension. The two are competing in the Georgia Republican Senate primary for the chance to challenge Ossoff in 2026.

The Daily Signal has reached out to both congressmen for comment.

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