Fox News host Jessica Tarlov snapped at her network colleague Bret Baier during a heated debate about a government shutdown.
The clash raged as President Trump threatened to fire federal workers caught in the shutdown chaos, and Tarlov insisted people would blame Republicans.
The U.S. government began shutting down on Wednesday after Congress blew past the Oct. 1 funding deadline without a deal.
Senate Republicans and Democrats are stuck at an impasse. The GOP has a 53–47 majority, but needs seven Democrats to pass a short-term funding bill.
Republicans baulked at Democratic demands for an extension of Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act. “This is kind of simple,” Baier insisted during the Special Report segment, hours before the shutdown began. “This is a plain, fund-the-government continuing resolution.”
Tarlov cut in, “But it’s a clean resolution, inclusive of these cuts. When you look at what’s gonna happen with 114 percent hikes on the ACA premiums, that affects Democrats just as much as Republicans. And there are a lot of Republicans on Obamacare.”
“That doesn’t stop until the end of the year,” Baier shot back. “So, you fund the government and—”
“Enough with this!” Tarlov interjected, throwing up her hands. “Who’s to say that they’re gonna sit down and negotiate with us afterwards?”
Senate Republicans scheduled another round of votes for Wednesday on the two funding bills, framing it as a chance for Democrats to flip. Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer instead pin the shutdown on Donald Trump and the GOP, accusing them of refusing to protect Americans’ healthcare.
Tarlov pointed to President Trump’s social media post pushing an AI-generated video falsely claiming Democrats want to give healthcare to undocumented immigrants—a line repeated by Vice President JD Vance and Speaker Mike Johnson.
The clash comes as Schumer himself faces pressure from his own caucus, after angering progressives in March when he cut a deal with Republicans on a six-month spending bill without securing concessions.
