Speaker 1 (00:00):
[inaudible 00:00:01]
Mike Johnson (06:25):
Well, good morning, everyone. Welcome to day three of the Democrat shutdown. You can see it's pretty empty around here. There's normally a lot of activity. On an average day, we have about 7,000 visitors here in the Capitol, school children and school groups and visitors and constituents, but they're not here right now. And around the country, all around the country right now, real pain is being endured by real people because the Democrats have decided to play politics.
(06:54)
So Leader Thun, and I wanted to come out and do two things today. Just give you a brief update on where things stand with this Democrat shutdown. And then to reiterate once more, present the simple facts about what we're facing. This is necessary because the Democrats have a full out assault to spin the facts and try to pretend as though they're not what they actually are. And some of the mainstream media are participating in this as well.
(07:19)
I was giving our leadership press conference yesterday, and in mid-sentence, I was cut off by one of the networks, CNN. CNN, I hope you'll stay with us for a few more moments because what I was about to say before they went to try to disclaim my remarks was I was about to point to the very page in Chuck Schumer's counterproposal continuing resolution that proves the very fact that we've been stating.
(07:42)
So let me go through that very quickly. So everyone here has no question, and I want Chuck Schumer, and Elizabeth Warren, and AOC, and everybody else who's been trying to spend this truth to watch and try to refute what I'm about to show you. Now, here's a visual aid. Okay? This is the bill. This is the counterproposal, continual resolution
Mike Johnson (08:00):
… solution that Chuck Schumer and the Senate Democrats filed. Two weeks ago, mid-September, the house passed a clean, simple, continued resolution. It merely continues the Biden era policies and spending that we're enduring right now for seven more weeks to allow the appropriations process to continue. That's Republicans and Democrats in both chambers working together to get the government funded. We ran out of time because the end of the fiscal year is September 30th. We needed a few more weeks, so we sent it over. Ours is 24 pages in length. It says, "Let's just keep the status quo. So this process, this procedure, this regular order can be done."
(08:37)
Chuck Schumer rejected that. Senate Democrats rejected that. Now three times they voted against that measure. And this is what they propose in exchange for that. So instead, the counter proposal, this is page 57. This is on our website. Go to speaker.gov, you can get all these visual aids for yourself. All right. Page 57, section 2141. You see the highlighted language. There's a lot of legalese in this legislation in these bills, but it says that they want to repeal the health subtitle changes.
(09:04)
What does that refer to? You read down here, public law 119-21. That's the one big beautiful bill. That's the American Families Tax Cut. What they want to do is repeal the very important and necessary changes that Republicans voted to put into law. President Trump signed that into law on July 4th, triumphantly on Independence Day. And it was a great marquee achievement for lots of reasons. Well, some of the most important provisions in that law was that it eliminated fraud and abuse of our health system.
(09:36)
Medicaid has been rife with fraud and abuse, and so we reformed it. Why? To help provide more and better health services for the American people because the problem with Medicaid is it's been abused. We had so many people on Medicaid that never were intended to be there. Medicaid was written for the people who need it most, the elderly, the disabled, sometimes young pregnant women who are in difficult situations. But the resources are being drained. You know why? Because there was two primary categories of people that should never have been there in the first place. One was able-bodied young men who are riding the wagon, who should be working. We got them back to work. And the other thing that we focused on was the illegal aliens.
(10:18)
By the CBO's estimate, about 1.4 million illegal aliens were receiving Medicaid benefits that were intended only for US citizens that met the categories I just described. They were gaming the system. They were cheating the system. And what that means is that less resources were available for the people, the Americans who actually needed it most. So we did the common-sense thing, the right thing, the just thing, and we put it in the law. And the president signed that, gladly signed it into law.
(10:47)
They want to repeal it. They want to give those resources back to illegal aliens. That's exactly what that highlighted language means. On this exhibit number two over here, I feel like I'm back in court, exhibit number two. Okay? This is the specifics of what that would mean. When we say they want to give $200 billion back to illegal aliens, these are the specifics. If you read the legalese here in the language in the bill on page 57 and what follows, that's what it's talking about. These are all the various provisions. In the chart over here, those are listed in millions. So you see the final total there, $192.8 billion of your hard-earned taxpayer dollars that Chuck Schumer and the Democrats want to give back to illegal aliens. That's a fact, and nobody can refute it.
(11:36)
Now, look, what we've done is very simple. We sent over a continuing clean resolution. This is standard practice around here. And all the Democrats who are voting against it in the Senate right now, every single one of them have given impassioned speeches about how you must pass continuing resolutions. You must pass CRs. You should never shut down the government because it's dangerous and destructive and selfish and wrong. Well, suddenly they've changed their tune. We're playing… I invite you all after the press conference to go by the speaker's office in the hallway there, and you can see the highlight reel of all of them saying this passionately as recently as March of this last year when Chuck Schumer led his caucus to vote for the same CR. They did it 13 times during the Biden administration in the previous four years, but suddenly they won't do it.
(12:22)
So everybody has to ask themselves why. It has nothing to do with healthcare. The subsidies that they're saying is the issue is not the issue. That is an issue for the end of the year. December 31 is when that expires, so Congress has three months to negotiate that. Certainly, we could work on it in the month of October to find some consensus to figure that out. What reforms there may be necessary to make all that happen. Republicans are committed to the healthcare of Americans. We have already proven that, that we are making healthcare more efficient and effective and more available so that we can bring down cost and premiums and improve quality of care. We put the goods on paper. We're doing that.
(12:59)
And the CBO analysis that came out August 25th said that these changes that we put in our bill are doing exactly that. Congressional Budget Office is not a Republican shop, as you all know. They typically go against what I'm doing. Okay. But they had to admit that this is going to make 2.3 ineligible recipients no longer on the Medicaid rolls. It's going to save $185 billion for taxpayers. That's exactly what we promised, and that's what's going to be achieved. But we have more reforms coming to try to fix Obamacare, which is not working for the people. But you need common sense, responsible Republicans who are serious about policy to fix that for the people, and that's what we're working to do.
(13:39)
The Democrats are stalling that because they need a political talking point. And why? Because Chuck Schumer, who leads the Democrats is terrified that he's not going to win back his Senate seat. He's afraid that the Marxist far left corner of his base is going to challenge him in New York. Maybe many of you have noticed New York is probably going to elect a Marxist for mayor. He's terrified by that development. Chuck Schumer is a far left progressive politician, but he's not far enough left for this place. And so he's got to show a fight against the president. He's got to show that he's fighting Republicans.
(14:11)
And because they're playing political games and they're not doing what he himself said passionately as recently as six months ago, that must be done, that you passed a standard bipartisan CR, because he needs political cover, he's dragging the American people through this. And who's getting hurt? Women, infants, and children, nutrition programs that are now stalled. Veterans health services that will not be provided. People who are low income Medicare recipients who receive telehealth and health treatment at home. Many of those programs are not being funded.
(14:43)
We have troops and TSA agents and border patrol agents who are working without pay protecting the country. And you have FEMA services, health insurance policies, for example, that are being stalled in the middle of a hurricane season because the Democrats want to play political games and try to obscure the real facts at issue. We challenge them. We challenge them to tell us why they're not trying to give illegal aliens healthcare again when they put it in their own bill.
(15:09)
This is not Republicans playing games. I could have put Republican conservative priorities on the CR and sent it over there, but I didn't. And so when you all ask me, "Why aren't you negotiating with them?" I don't have anything to negotiate. Leader Thune and I can't take off Republican priorities that we put in the CR and say, "Hey, is that better? Could you vote for that?" Because we didn't put them on there in the first place. Why? Because Republicans are being responsible. We're operating in good faith and we're trying to get the Democrats to do their job and they won't. Those are the simple facts and they cannot be obscured.
(15:39)
I'm so grateful for the strong leadership of my colleague and partner over in the Senate. And I'd love Leader Thune to give you a little update here.
Leader Thune (15:48):
Well, thank you Mr. Speaker. The speaker is right. We have an opportunity to pick up a house pass bill that, if it passes, the Senate will be sent to the White House. The president
Leader Thune (16:00):
… will sign it, and the government will reopen. It's that simple and that straightforward, and that's all we're talking about here. All we need is a handful more Democrats. We have a majority of senators. 55 senators have already voted for this clean, short-term, nonpartisan CR. As the speaker said, no policy riders, no gimmicks, nothing in here that benefits Republicans. This is a straight-up seven-week funding resolution, and we need it to keep the government open. And if we don't keep the government open, you'll have all the things that Speaker just alluded to, all the Americans who are adversely impacted by this government shutdown. Now, this is something, as you all know, as recently as the last administration, during the Biden administration, when the Democrats had the majority here in the United States Senate, the Democrats on 13 different occasions voted for this, a short-term continuing resolution. Now I have to ask. What's changed? What's different about this?
(17:03)
What's different is who's in the White House. That's what it's about. It's all about President Trump, and the Democrats needing to pick a fight to satisfy their far-left political base, far-left activist organizations, who are the tail wagging the dog right now. That's all this is about. And you have a Democrat leader from New York in the Senate, a Democrat leader in the House from New York, and you have a mayoral race in New York, you've got AOC, you've got all these people that are bringing pressure to bear on what should be a routine, simple, straightforward proposition, and that is a short-term continuing resolution to keep the government funded, which is sitting right now. Sitting right now. This is sitting at the Senate desk. We will have a vote another hour or two, and it'll be the fourth time that Democrats will have an opportunity to vote to keep the government open.
(17:59)
Now at some point, reason, good sense, common sense has to take effect here, because that's really what this is. They brought to us, and the speaker alluded to all the impacts on illegals and free healthcare programs in this country, a bill loaded with $1.5 trillion in new spending, which includes all these provisions, and they want to load that onto a seven week continuing resolution to fund the government. Now, what's happening right now, when the government is shut down? All the things that we could be doing. The Defense Authorization Bill, which benefits every congressional district, every state across this country, is languishing right now because we are shut down. The other appropriations bills. We have people in the Senate, both Republicans and Democrats, and frankly Democrats I think especially, because they haven't had a chance to be heard in the appropriations process for a really long time, because when Chuck Schumer ran the Senate, we didn't do appropriations bills. We didn't put them on the floor. They marked them up in committee, and then they died, and then he wrote it behind closed doors in his office.
(19:11)
That's the difference. We are opening this process up, and one of the things that's not getting done while the government is shut down is an appropriations process that allows us to fund the government the old-fashioned way in the light of day. We aren't working on permitting reform, which should be a bipartisan priority. We aren't working on a farm bill. We got a lot of farm policy this summer in the Working Families Tax Cuts Bill, but there's more to do there. Those should be bipartisan things that we could be working together on along with appropriations. All those things aren't getting done right now because Senate Democrats have chosen to shut the government down. They have an opportunity, a fourth opportunity, fourth time today, fourth time to vote to open up the government, and to allow us to do the rest of the work that the American people expects us to do.
(19:57)
They have taken hostage the federal government, and by extension the American people, who are the only losers in this. Everybody's talking about who wins and who loses and who gets the blame. That's not what this is about. This is about what's doing in the best interest of the American people, and what's in the best interest of the American people is keeping the government open and operating so it can continue to work on their behalf.
Mike Johnson (20:19):
A few questions. Yeah, [inaudible 00:20:22]
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Are you at all concerned that this decision by the administration to block some of these infrastructure projects, to take some of these blue states and target them, that that could backfire on the momentum you guys have to try and break the stalemate and open up the government?
Mike Johnson (20:35):
So the question is about the executive and the White House and what they're doing in this situation. Everybody needs to understand how this works. When Congress decides to turn off the lights to shut the government down, it shifts the authority to the executive branch. That's how the process works. The person who has decided to put the White House in that situation is Chuck Schumer, who leads the Democrats, the 44 who keep voting to keep the government from opening up. They're voting to shut it down. So what happens in that situation? Whoever is the president, whoever is sitting in the White House, and their staffs at the Office of Management and Budget, are given an unenviable task. It's a regretful situation. They have to then determine, since the spigots have been effectively turned off and there's no more money coming in, they have to then prioritize, triage effectively, federal spending.
(21:22)
They have to look at all of that and say which things are deemed essential and which are non-essential, which priorities, policies, and personnel must be kept to keep the government operating and which are less of a priority. So whomever is sitting in the White House gets to then apply their lenses of review. We happen to have a Republican, a conservative administration. We're very grateful for that. We're limited government conservatives, we think the government's too big. We think the federal government is too big, it does too many things, and it does almost nothing well, and so it serves the taxpayers to send less of their hard-earned money to Washington and keep more in their pockets. That's what we're advancing through the One Big Beautiful Bill and all the legislative priorities that we achieve. But sometimes Democrats… not sometimes, all the time, Democrats don't agree with that, because they love big government.
(22:05)
I mean, listen to them. They want the government to control every aspect of your lives, and they need all of your hard=earned dollars to do that. In fact, they'd like to take them all. That's what the socialists are arguing for. That's what the Marxists believe. We believe the opposite. So here's this situation. Here's the president, the current occupant of the White House, that's been given this opportunity by Chuck Schumer, and he's a limited government conservative. He's looking at that and saying, "Gee, this is inefficient. This is ineffective. And we'd never get Democrat votes to limit that, because they never vote to limit government ever. It's against their religion." But he has that opportunity now to say, "This is a program that would serve the American people if it were not funded, because government would be more efficient and effective, and that serves everyone." So they're going to make those decisions.
(22:46)
Now, are they taking great pleasure in that? No. Is he trolling the Democrats? Yes. I mean, yes, because that's what President Trump does, and people are having fun with this. But at the end of the day, the decisions are tough ones. And I've met with him. I talked yesterday at length with Russ Vought, who's the director of the Office and Management and Budget. Russ takes no pleasure in this. Russ wants to see a smaller, more efficient, more lean, effective federal government as we do, but he doesn't want people to lose jobs. He doesn't want to do that. But that's his responsibility. So he's very carefully, methodically, very deliberately looking through that to see which decisions can be made in the best interests of the American people. That's his obligation and that's his real desire. The president takes no pleasure in this, but if Chuck Schumer's going to give Donald Trump the opportunity to determine what the priorities are, he's going to exercise that opportunity, and that's where we are. Chad.
Chad (23:37):
Just clear something for me here. How can you say that they take no pleasure in this, and then the next minute say, "Oh, they're just having fun and trolling people"?
Mike Johnson (23:45):
Yeah.
Chad (23:46):
This is a government shutdown. On one hand you say this is very serious, that people's jobs are on the line. The other hand, you say, "Oh, this is just fun games, and they're trolling."
Mike Johnson (23:52):
Yeah. So the effects are very serious on real people, real American-
Chad (23:56):
[inaudible 00:23:57]
Mike Johnson (23:56):
We support federal employees who do a great job in all
Mike Johnson (24:00):
All these different areas, but what they're trying to have fun with, trying to make light of is to point out the absurdity of the Democrat's position. And they're using memes and all the tools of social media to do that. Some people find that entertaining, but at the end of the day, the decisions are hard ones. And I'm telling you, they're not taking any pleasure in that. Yes, yes. Jake?
Jake (24:22):
The Democrats are saying they would like you and the leader to put in writing that you want, how you'll handle the Obamacare stuff.
Mike Johnson (24:31):
So Jake is asking the Democrats' latest demand. Apparently I haven't heard that, but they want us to put in writing how some of these unresolved questions will be resolved. Here's the problem. Some of the issues that they're bringing to the table and they're demanding immediate, easy answers for are not easy answers, and they take a long time to deliberate. That is the process. This is a deliberative body and a very large one. We got 435 over there and 100 over here.
(24:59)
We can't snap our fingers and he and I and two other leaders in a room go, "Oh, well this is the resolution." That's not how it works. So what we're trying to do to buy the extra time to get to November 21st is to give both chambers and this whole body seven more weeks to figure that out. So it's not an easy solution. They know that very well. They know it as well as we do, but they're using that as a red herring because they want to drag this along so they can get political points. Yes.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
[inaudible 00:25:23] so much. Look, I know that you both believe that Democrats are to blame here, but at the end of the day, this is happening on your watch. Do you take any responsibility for what's happening? And what is the justification for not holding votes in your chamber this week and potentially yours this weekend when there are some bipartisan conversations happening in the Senate? Why not just stay here and work this out?
Mike Johnson (25:49):
I'll give you my quick answer. I'll yield the leader, but my quick answer is very simple. The house did its job. The House did sent a bipartisan, very simple, very conventional 24-page continuous resolution to keep the lights on. And we sent it over, we passed it, and it's been rejected by the Senate. So the House will come back into session and do its work as soon as Chuck Schumer allows us to reopen the government. That's plain and simple.
Leader Thune (26:12):
Right. Well, and as I mentioned, all the things we aren't doing. So we're in a shut-down posture here because of Senate Democrats. There is united support, House Republicans, Senate Republicans, a few Senate Democrats, the President of the United States in support of keeping or opening the government back up. And right now, it's being blocked by the Senate Democrats. And all it takes, as you point out, is a handful more. We get four or five more votes and we can actually pass this thing. And there are discussions going on with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle, but at some point they have to take yes for an answer.
(26:50)
I mean, the things that people want, and I don't disagree with this at all, is a normal appropriations process. Putting bills on the floor, getting conference pass bills on the floor of the House and Senate so we can actually fund the government the old-fashioned way. And I'm all for that. And we've made that very clear to them. We can't make commitments or promises on the COVID subsidies because that's not something that we can guarantee that they're the votes there to do. But what I've said is I'm open to having conversations with our Democrat colleagues about how to address that issue.
(27:23)
And I think, but that can't happen while the government is shut down. I mean, we've got to open up the government, and with respect to our schedule, like I said, I don't know how many times they're going to give them a chance to vote no. And hopefully over the weekend they'll have a chance to think about it and maybe some of these conversations start to result in something to where we can start moving some votes and actually get this thing passed.
(27:45)
But there's nothing to be gained at this point by negotiating something that there's nothing to negotiate. I mean, I think that's essentially where we are. This is again, a straightforward, simple solution to keep the government open, and then all these other issues that we're talking about, we're happy to sit down and have conversations.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
[inaudible 00:28:06] The president said that this is an unprecedented opportunity to make cuts to programs. Do you see that as an unprecedented opportunity? And is that helpful toward these bipartisan negotiations? You mentioned you only need a handful of more Democrats.
Leader Thune (28:22):
Well, I mean, as the speaker pointed out, when you're in a shut-down situation, you have to manage the government. And any administration is going to make decisions based on their priorities, figure out where to move money from here to here, this agency, this department, these employees. That's the situation that Democrats have put the administration in. Now, to your point, I mean, I think they're going to make decisions that are consistent with their priorities. And yes, they're going to have a different political view of the world than the Democrats might have, but that's what the Democrats have wrought by doing this.
(28:57)
They are allowing the administration to do the very thing that back in March, they said they didn't want to give them the authority to do. And that's to make decisions just like that. But that's what's going to happen. And again, while I'm at a loss to explain the strategy behind this, other than it generates contributions and activists, energy support from the far left of the Democrat party. If you're a Republic or a Democrat here in the Senate or in the House for that matter, who actually wants to get results and get things done, you're losing that opportunity by keeping the government shut down. And you're also handing the administration an opportunity to do things that probably, in most cases, you're not going to agree with.
Speaker 5 (29:38):
Last question. [inaudible 00:29:40].
Speaker 6 (29:43):
[inaudible 00:29:43] about the new poll that shows overwhelming support, including among Republicans to extend the Obamacare subsidies. I know you both said you want to reform them, so do you commit to doing something to address those subsidies so that insurance premiums don't spike for Americans in 2026?
Mike Johnson (29:57):
Republicans commit to continue the work that we've already been doing and demonstrating to bring down cost and improve quality of care. We are committed to that and we will do whatever's necessary to make it happen. This is one of many issues that have to be deliberated and discussed through our process. What we're asking the Democrats to do, I'll close as we began, please open the government so we can do that work so that all the members of both chambers can be here to do the work, to legislate, and to deliberate. They've stopped our ability to do that with these political antics and we hope it ends. Thank you all for being here.
Speaker 6 (30:29):
[inaudible 00:30:30] usually the shut down people are furloughed. Why the firings?