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Both Republicans and Democrats are pointing to each other in the “blame game” for shutting down the federal government. Nebraska Public Media’s Dale Johnson caught up with Jane Kleeb, chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party, and asked what Democrats must emphasize to get more Americans on their side.
Jane Kleeb: The one thing that we are saying already so they need to keep on doing it, is that the shutdown is going to double folks’ health insurance premiums and so adding about $1,200 for your average family per month if they're using one of the Obamacare plans. That’s just unsustainable. The Democrats obviously did miraculous work when we put that health care plan in place, so people were saving real money in order to get lifesaving treatment. I think the thing that's missing that the Democrats continue to miss, and those of us who come from kind of rural backgrounds, or rural-heavy states are always putting a megaphone to is the real impact that this is having on our rural areas. You know, Mike flood made a flippant comment on MSNBC last week that it was no big deal that we were going to have some of our rural hospitals closing and that emergency care will happen there, but people are just going to have to travel two and a half, three and a half hours for care. Our hospital here in Hastings is now serving women from 50 counties to deliver their babies, and all of this is getting worse with the government shutdown and with the budget bill that the Republicans are proposing.
Dale Johnson: I read an article on USA Today, an opinion piece last week, and the author argues that Democrats should actually own the shutdown as an act of resistance, to tell Democrat voters that this is their last chance to resist Trump. What do you think about that strategy?
Kleeb: The best place to resist Trump is at the ballot box, and I think Nebraskans showed up very loudly in our 2025 elections. You know, ours were much earlier than some of the other states in 2025. Ours happened in May. We elected Democrats up and down the ballot, a clean sweep in Lincoln. We lost only one office in Omaha. It was in a heavily Republican area, but we obviously flipped the mayor's seat there. So we know that that's the best way to resist Trump. I think Democrats are absolutely holding the line when it comes to giving their votes to a very bad budget bill, which is what this shutdown is about. The Republicans keep on pretending that it's about us making sure that undocumented folks have health insurance through the government, which is not even a thing. They're not even eligible for it. So we're going to hold the line. We think that their budget bill is not good for America. And corn prices, cattle prices for us in Nebraska, those are things that we care about, because it has so much impact on our economy. Those are always better under Democrats, and that is being shown very clearly right now in black and white numbers under the Trump administration, how bad the rural ag economy is.
Johnson: I also heard a take from progressive commentator Adam Mockler, who says he sees a shift in the Democratic Party, that leaders like California's Gavin Newsom and Illinois’ JB Pritzker are a new generation who aren't afraid to fight back. What's your response to a phrase of Democrats fighting back?
Kleeb: I absolutely think that folks like Newsom and Pritzker and our new DNC chair Ken Martin, myself on charge of all the state parties now across the nation, we are Generation X. So I think you see us fighting back more without gloves. We are not afraid of bare-knuckled fights. We grew up on the streets, you know, kind of unsupervised, because both of our parents were usually working. Those of us that are in Gen X know that well, so we grew up quick and we know how to fight. There's all these articles now pontificating on how many of us are cursing more as Democrats, and I'm like, it's not that we're cursing more. It's just that Gen X is now in very high leadership positions within our party. We've always cursed. So it's whether it's the cursing or whether it's like true policy stances of us pushing back, which is the more important thing, that's what we're doing. We know that where Republicans and where Trump wants to take our country is a dark place.
Johnson: President Trump doesn't back down, Jane. He tends to double down. So given that pattern, what do you expect the next month or so to look like in this country?
Kleeb: I think that Trump will use the government shutdown as an excuse to cut even more folks from the government, providing services to people in the states and communities, because that's what he was doing under Elon Musk, and then got so much backlash that he kind of stopped. But he's going to use this now to go after – in his own words, Trump said it – that he is going after democratic programs, which I guess means the programs that Democrats put in place. Things like Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP, WIC, these are all programs that Democrats pushed and got in place several decades ago that have literally helped save lives and transform communities, and we're going to continue to hold them accountable. It means us recruiting the best candidates for 2026 in our state at the national level, it means us holding the line when it comes to them cutting programs. And sure, there's no question, Trump is tough, but he also backs down when you push back, as most bullies do.
Johnson: Jane Kleeb, Chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party. Thank you, Jane.
Kleeb: Thanks, Dale.
Johnson: I'm Dale Johnson, Nebraska Public Media News.