Republican Representative Kevin Kiley of California expressed concern on Thursday about the ongoing focus on assigning blame for the current government shutdown, urging his fellow lawmakers to prioritize resolving the crisis instead.

In an interview with Blake Burman on NewsNation’s “The Hill,” Kiley emphasized, “All of the energy is going towards assigning blame to one side or the other when it should be going toward trying to reach a solution that will get us out of this impasse.” NewsNation is affiliated with The Hill.

The government shutdown, which commenced on October 1, is now ranked as the fourth-longest in the history of the United States.

On September 19, the House approved a continuing resolution (CR) described by Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana as “clean” and “nonpartisan.” This Republican-supported measure aims to fund the government until November 21.

However, Democrats are advocating for the CR to include a permanent extension of subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which are set to expire at the end of this year. Without these subsidies, ACA marketplace enrollees could face more than double their current premium costs on average, according to research from the health policy group KFF.

Kiley, who said he is “extremely concerned” about the impending increase in premiums, expressed support for “temporary relief” for those who will be impacted. According to KFF, more than 24 million Americans are enrolled in the ACA marketplaces, 92 percent of whom received the ACA subsidies this year.

“Ultimately, we need to address the rising cost curve of health care in this country,” Kiley added. “But if we could explore [a temporary extension] as a pathway out of the shutdown, I don’t see why we shouldn’t do that.”

Both sides have pointed fingers at each other, but according to a poll released Thursday by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, roughly three-quarters of Americans surveyed said Republicans, Democrats and President Trump deserve either a moderate or great deal of blame for the shutdown. 

The majority of respondents to the survey, 54 percent, said they think the shutdown is a major problem, while 35 percent believe it is a minor problem and 11 percent think it is not a problem.

“For most Americans, they probably are just kind of like, ‘Well, this is par for the course,’ in the sense that Congress is broken, and this is another example of that,” Kiley said.