Kevin McCarthy: “I call it the ‘Seinfeld’ shutdown because it’s a shutdown about nothing.”

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy criticized Democrats for declining to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government open with no strings attached.

“I call it the ‘Seinfeld’ shutdown because it’s a shutdown about nothing,” the California Republican told CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett, referencing the common joke that the seminal sitcom was a “show about nothing.” 

McCarthy called the current impasse “the reverse [of] where Republicans were in 2013,” when some GOP lawmakers pressed for a spending bill that would roll back the Affordable Care Act, while Democrats pushed for a “clean” bill to fund the government. The government ultimately shut down for 16 days before Republicans ceded to Democrats.

This year, Republicans are the ones pushing for a clean bill that would keep the government open at existing spending levels, while Democrats are asking for extensions to expiring health insurance subsidies and a rollback of Medicaid restrictions passed earlier this year.

Democrats say negotiations over health insurance tax credits are necessary immediately to prevent millions of people from facing higher premiums. Republican leaders say they’re willing to negotiate on health care, but only after the shutdown ends.

McCarthy argued Democratic leaders are “trying to find a message” and are “fearful” of the party’s rank-and-file members.

One difference from prior funding fights, McCarthy argued, is that the country is more divided now and each side is blaming its opponents, so there isn’t a clear narrative about who is responsible. 

An Associated Press poll published last week found 82% of Democrats think congressional Republicans deserve a great deal of blame for the shutdown, while 73% of Republicans think congressional Democrats are to blame.