ABC White House correspondent Selina Wang stopped by Saturday’s Good Morning America to put her thumb on the scales for Senate Democrats’ latest proposal to end the government shutdown. While Wang omitted any reason why the deal was not worth taking seriously, she also rolled out former President Joe Biden to claim that President Trump is “deliberately making hunger worse” for people.
Wang reported that, “Democrats are offering to reopen the government if Republicans agree to extend Obamacare subsidies for one year to prevent healthcare insurance premiums from skyrocketing for millions of Americans.”
After a clip of Minority Leader Chuck Schumer claiming the deal was “a very simple compromise,” Wang played two brief additional clips from Sens. Roger Marshall and Lindsey Graham rejecting the proposal, but neither clip provided any explanation why they might do so. For Republicans, Schumer’s proposal is a can-kicking exercise that gives Democrats no incentive to actually negotiate because the prospect of using health care as a midterm issue is too alluring. Additionally, in the future, there will be other scenarios like this where the government needs to be funded and Republicans do not want to give Democrats the precedent of believing they will be able to bully their way to unrelated concessions.
Nevertheless, Wang continued, “And overnight, former President Joe Biden blasting the Trump administration.”
In yet another clip, Biden was shown declaring that, “Now we have a president who's deliberately making hunger worse for Americans… It is a disgrace. It's immoral. It's wrong. Simply wrong.”
Back in her D.C. studio, Wang concluded, “So, clearly, Republicans are not on board with the Democratic proposal. They say they will not talk health care until Democrats vote to reopen the government, but guys, in the meantime, it is not lawmakers who are paying the price of this shutdown. It's the federal workers who are missing their paychecks and millions of Americans who are caught in the middle of this, Gio.”
With reporting like this, perhaps it is no wonder why Democrats do not feel the need to budge.
Here is a transcript for the November 8 show:
ABC Good Morning America
11/8/2025
7:09 AM ET
SELINA WANG: Meanwhile, Democrats are offering to reopen the government if Republicans agree to extend Obamacare subsidies for one year to prevent healthcare insurance premiums from skyrocketing for millions of Americans.
CHUCK SCHUMER: Democrats are offering a very simple compromise.
WANG: But Republicans dismissing the offer.
ROGER MARSHALL: Of course, that's a nonstarter.
LINDSEY GRAHAM: Our Democratic colleagues are asking me to do something I cannot and will not do.
WANG: And overnight, former President Joe Biden blasting the Trump administration.
JOE BIDEN: Now we have a president who's deliberately making hunger worse for Americans. [jump cut] It is a disgrace. It's immoral. It's wrong. Simply wrong.
WANG: So, clearly, Republicans are not on board with the Democratic proposal. They say they will not talk health care until Democrats vote to reopen the government, but guys, in the meantime, it is not lawmakers who are paying the price of this shutdown. It's the federal workers who are missing their paychecks and millions of Americans who are caught in the middle of this, Gio.
