On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “OutFront,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) argued that the government shutdown is the fault of Republicans “because they don’t want to, basically, reverse themselves on these massive cuts to Americans’ health care. So, it’s a Republican shutdown.”

While talking about the possibility of firings of government employees during the government shutdown, Merkley said that “there is nothing about a shutdown that gives new powers to the president. So, if it’s illegal without a shutdown, it’s illegal with a shutdown. There are details about how you do reductions in force. If you haven’t gone through all those steps, a firing is illegal. Remember when they first did their big display of firings early in the administration? Many of them were illegal. They had to rehire. They had to bring people back. So, when they say Democrats have had an opportunity, no, there’s nothing new in a shutdown.”

He continued, “And by the way, Republicans are the ones who shut down the government because they don’t want to, basically, reverse themselves on these massive cuts to Americans’ health care. So, it’s a Republican shutdown. No new laws allow them to do anything they couldn’t do, right? Well, without one.”