Cognizant of the tense state in Washington over the government shutdown, U.S. Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA) made a desperate play on Monday morning to shift the blame for the government shutdown to Democrats.

While on CNN’s New Day, Issa was pressed by co-host Chris Cuomo to answer whether or not the government shutdown – for which recent polling shows a plurality of Americans blame the GOP — is justified, despite the harm it will inflict on families nationwide who “live on the margins,” as Cuomo put it.

Issa’s response: “You can’t accuse me of beating my wife and then turn around and tell me, isn’t that true?”

“We did not shut the government. We offered to the Senate, again and again, things to keep the government fully funded,” Issa continued, attempting to blame the Senate for the shutdown.

After claiming the GOP’s only goal is to “keep the American people from being forced into buying into exchanges before they are even up and running or we know how much they cost,” the Republican lawmaker admitted that the issue is “small,” and “of course not” worth a shutdown.

The congressman then argued that if the Senate “rejects the offer to have a conference,” they are “rejecting the constitutional process.” For good measure, he added: “It’s certainly not us,” referring to the Republican-led House.

However, Cuomo insisted to Issa that it was his party in the House that “did shut down the government,” and referenced the Constitution as Issa had previously done, saying: “The constitutional mandate is not to accede to your wishes on legislation that’s already passed.”

The congressman responded: “If you [Congress] have the right to fund the government, you have the right to fund the government to a lesser amount.”

Perhaps realizing that a government shutdown did not equate to funding the government “to a lesser amount,” a desperate Issa then declared: “Not funding the government is part of funding it.”

Video via Politico.com