Democratic Senator Bashes Bernie, Omar for Criticizing Stimulus Proposal: They’ve Never ‘Negotiated Any Deal’

Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) blasted Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) for criticizing a congressional stimulus proposal, saying they had never “negotiated any deal” which has been successful.

Warner was responding to comments the lawmakers made about a $900 billion stimulus package that would direct hundreds of billions in aid to small businesses and unemployment benefits, in addition to providing a $600 to $700 one-time check to Americans under a certain income threshold. Omar called the proposal “shameful,” while Sanders said he did not believe Democrats had negotiated well and that it should include “a lot more money.”

Warner responded to the comments in a Thursday interview with MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson. “These are folks who have never negotiated any deal that I think has ever been successful,” Warner said. “I mean, We’re dealing with a senate that is still, unfortunately, controlled by the Republicans. We still have Donald Trump as president, controlling two-thirds, in a sense, of the federal government, the executive and the Senate.”

“And the alternative would have been to have people kicked off of unemployment, kicked out of their apartments, not get the food assistance that’s needed,” he added. “The Republican deal was sitting at $500 billion. And frankly, there have not been conversations between leadership.”

Warner concluded with a shot at “so-called progressives” and suggested they were willing to take money “away” from Americans who were experiencing economic hardship.

“I think that’s a piece of good work — and where I differ with some of these so-called progressives, they were willing to accept taking money away from the unemployed to give out stimulus checks with Donald Trump’s name on [them] to some folks who frankly have not suffered any economic harm,” he added. “I think that is misguided, and I don’t think it’s candidly very progressive.”

Watch above via MSNBC.

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