Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., said Wednesday on Newsmax that Republicans need to sharpen their message and make clear to Americans that Democrats, not the GOP, are to blame for the ongoing government shutdown.

Appearing on "National Report," he said Democrats are using the shutdown as "political leverage" while families and federal workers pay the price.

"The language they're using is leverage," Ricketts said. "They keep talking about political leverage that they have, versus the families that are being harmed by this. And then at the end of the day, you know, if they want to give Obamacare/Biden/COVID bonuses, we can do that after government is open, just like they have said in the past."

Ricketts said the GOP's challenge is communication — getting voters to understand that Democrats already backed the same spending plan they are now rejecting.

"Just talking about a budget, they have already voted for four times already in the last nine months, including as recently as last March," he said. "They're being completely hypocritical about this shutdown because this is a Biden budget, was a bipartisan budget. It's the only bipartisan solution that's out there right now."

The senator argued that Democrats' refusal to advance that framework has prolonged the stalemate and hurt Americans relying on government services.

"But, at the end of the day, the Democrats need to come to their senses because they're creating stress for our public servants who are, for example, air traffic controllers or law enforcement, that are working without paychecks," Ricketts said. "Putting stress on families who are looking to get SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] benefits that are going to be delayed or reduced."

He accused Democrats of ignoring their own past positions on shutdown negotiations, pointing to comments from Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.

"In fact, Chris Murphy … said there's a time and a place to debate healthcare and it's not during a government shutdown," Ricketts said. "So, once again, they're hypocrites."

Ricketts added that while Tuesday's elections were disappointing for Republicans, they should not distract the GOP from explaining clearly who caused the current government shutdown.

"If you look at the races, the elections we just had, for example, last night … New Jersey is a blue state, Virginia tends to flip back and forth as well," he said. "So, I don't know that I read too much into those races in particular, but we've got to do a better job as Republicans in telling people, hey, this was a Biden budget … and they're creating the stress on our public servants, our American families, by not reopening government."

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