Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, good morning to everybody. We're going to be brief. The truth is very simple and it's easy to articulate. I'll just point out that today we're here on the west front of the Capitol. We're overlooking the National Mall. It's a beautiful site that a lot of the American people will not be able to experience today. On a normal day, of course, you have tens of thousands of visitors here, family, you have school groups that come and visit. They walk these grounds. We have about 7,000 people who visit this capitol each and every day, but today, that's not going to be the case. Today, America's boys and girls will walk up to these doors and they'll see something different, a sign that says, "Closed until further notice," and that's because at midnight the Democrats followed through on their threat to shut down the United States government.
(00:57)
As we speak here this morning, there are hundreds of thousands of federal workers who are getting their furlough notices. Nearly half of our civilian workforce is being sent home, these are hardworking Americans who work for our federal government. Our troops and our Border Patrol agents will have to go to work, but they'll be working without pay. Food assistance, veterans' benefits and vital support for women and children are all coming to a halt. Now, thankfully, President Trump is trying to mitigate the damage as much as possible. His administration is working to limit the harm to the American people, but the longer this goes on, the more pain will be inflicted because it is inevitable when the government shuts down.
(01:39)
The sad thing about it is that every single bit of this was entirely avoidable. Democrats could have worked with us in a bipartisan manner to avert this unnecessary and very harmful shutdown, but instead, they did something that is rather shocking to us, they prioritized taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal aliens over keeping the government open for American citizens. They themselves position that as a binary choice and it's patently absurd.
(02:08)
Listen to what the Democrats are demanding. They demanded in exchange for our simple, clean 24-page bipartisan continued resolution, the same one that Chuck Schumer and the Democrats voted for just a few months back in March. In exchange for that, they rejected it and they demanded something else. They wanted us to add over $1.5 trillion in new federal spending paid for, of course, by hard-working American taxpayers, simply for funding the government at current Biden spending levels. We are not going to do that. We can't do that. We won't do it. Almost two weeks ago, the House did our job. In the House, we passed a common sense non-partisan bill to keep the government open. Republicans did our job. We had one Democrat join us there, so it was bipartisan, but every other Democrat in the house voted to shut the government down. And last night, 44 Democrats in the Senate did the same thing.
(03:03)
This is a clean resolution. It would simply by Congress a few more weeks, seven weeks to finish the job. Why do we need that time? So, that appropriators in both parties can finish their work? They've been restoring regular order. They've passed 12 separate bills out of committee and the House. And the Senate has done its work as well, three bills of the 12 passed in each chamber. They don't line up exactly, so there's a conference committee constituted, the first time in years that that's happened. We just need more time because we ran out of clock the end of the fiscal year, September 30.
(03:39)
This is very important to note. Democrats themselves have voted to pass a clean bipartisan CR just like this 13 times in the last few years. During the four years of the Biden administration, 13 times this happened. Republicans did the responsible thing, even when we were in the minority, to keep the government open and today should be no different. There is nothing new in this legislation. There's no poison pill, there's no partisan tricks, there's no gimmicks whatsoever. The only difference today is the man who is sitting in the Oval Office. Rather than work with President Trump and Republicans to get this job done, as our party has done repeatedly in the same situation over the years, Democrats want to play political games with the lives and the livelihoods of Americans.
(04:23)
The simple truth is Democrats and Congress have dragged our country into another reckless shutdown to satisfy their far-left base, that is the truth. Whether or not the government remains open or reopens is entirely up to them. There's still time for Democrats to pass this clean bipartisan bill that's sitting before them, and we encourage our Democrat colleagues to do that. I certainly pray they'll come to their senses soon and do the right and responsible thing. The reason they will have one more opportunity today is because of the sound leadership that is being provided in the US Senate by our colleagues who are standing here with us. This is a joint press conference, as you know, between Republican leadership in the House and the Senate, and I'm delighted to yield to my good friend, an extraordinary leader in the Senate, Leader John Thune.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
All right. Well, thank you Mr. Speaker, and our House colleagues for doing the work. You sent us a clean, continuing resolution. Unfortunately, we are here this morning in a government shutdown that Democrats wanted. Chuck Schumer, at the behest of a bunch of liberal far-left activist groups, has walked his Democrat colleagues into a boxed canyon. There's no way out folks. There's no way out. This could have been avoided. It's totally unavoidable, and everybody's now asking the question, "How does this end?" Well, it ends when the Senate Democrats pick this bill up, passed by the House of Representatives, and vote for it. It's on the floor of the Senate. We're going to vote later this morning, on this, 24 pages. Does this look partisan? Does this look dirty to you? 24 pages to fund the government, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else.
(06:19)
The House kept it simple. We kept it simple in the Senate. This is something, as the speaker noted, that 13 times in the past Senate Democrats have gone when they were in the majority and Joe Biden was in the White House. This is a very straightforward issue. It's not complicated. They want it to end, vote with us to open up the government by voting this out of the Senate today, putting it on President Trump's desk, and he will sign into the law.
(06:47)
President, House Republicans, Senate Republicans, we're all united on this, and what's interesting now is some of the Democrats are joining us. Our vote last night was a bipartisan vote. There were three Democrats that came over and voted with us because they know this strategy is a losing one and it hurts the American people. It's not about who wins or who loses or who gets blamed in all this, it's about the American people and they have taken the American people hostage in a way that they think benefits them politically, but at the consequence of the cost of what's going to happen to the American families if this government shutdown continues.
(07:24)
So, I'm glad to be here with our Republican colleagues. Our Democrat colleagues in the House have been around here the last few days, I guess flailing around, celebrating. Celebrating the fact that they voted to shut down the government. How ironic. This can all end today, folks. It needs to end today. We will continue to work together with our House counterparts, with the president of the United States to get this government open again on behalf of the American people. Next up is… There he is, the leader.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Thank you, Leader Thune. Today, marks day one of the Schumer shutdown. As Speaker Johnson pointed out, this didn't need to happen. House Republicans came together weeks ago to prevent a government shutdown. We brought as straightforward of a bill as you can have to say, "Let's allow government to be funded for another two months while we negotiate our differences." Clearly, we have differences with Democrats right now. One of the Democrat leaders confirmed yesterday that Democrats shut the government down to fund healthcare for illegal aliens. That is no way to hold the American people hostage over some far-left demand.
(08:49)
We had an election in November where the country came together and said, "Let's send to Washington leaders who want to solve problems and get our country back on track," and we've been working feverishly to do that, to get this country back on track, to get the economy moving, to lower inflation, to lower interest rates. And Democrats, just to appease their far-left radical base, have been voting no every step of the way. Well, today it has consequences because when Hakeem Jeffries whipped every Democrat to vote no and shut the government down… Luckily, in the House we only needed a majority vote, we were able to come together and do the right thing and get that bill over to the Senate. But as everybody knows in the Senate, you also need Democrats to come together with Republicans to get 60 votes.
(09:37)
And so, when Chuck Schumer made such a fatally-flawed decision to shut the government down, ultimately the American people I think are going to get involved in demand that Chuck Schumer reverse course because it's not sustainable. The American people do not want to be held hostage to Chuck Schumer's radical demands to fund illegal healthcare. And oh, by the way, to cut and gut $50 billion out of rural hospitals. That's in the bill that Chuck Schumer filed as his alternative. That's outrageous. You want to talk about a partisan demand to hold the American people hostage? That's what Chuck Schumer's done.
(10:15)
We have a bill that is clean that just keeps these negotiations going for another two months while the government stays open. And all Chuck Schumer needs to do is get over the tantrum that he's having with the results of the election from November and vote yes to keep the government open. We are here, ready to get the job done. Schumer needs to end his shutdown and finally join with us and let's start real negotiations without holding the American people hostage.
(10:49)
With that, I want to bring up my friend, the whip of the Senate, Whip Barrasso.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
Well, today, we're in the middle of the Schumer shutdown. The Democrats have caved in to the radical wing of the Democrat party, caved in completely. Abandoned the American people in the process. And why? Well, one of the reasons is Chuck Schumer wants to try to prove to somebody that he's more liberal than AOC. Yesterday in the Senate floor, the cracks started to appear in the Democrat base. Three Democrats voted with the Republicans to prevent a shutdown. And why? Because they know the American people are hurt when the government shuts down.
(11:45)
We hurt our military who maybe without pay. We hurt our veterans, who may not get healthcare. Today the Senate is going to vote again and give the Democrats an opportunity to open the government by passing the continuing resolution, to give us seven weeks to do the appropriations process, to get the government open again. That's what the American people want, it's what the American people deserve. And today, we'll see how many Democrats vote with us to end the Schumer shutdown. And now, the whip of the House of Representatives, Tom Emmer.
Speaker 5 (12:28):
A government shutdown serves no one. Government shutdowns unleash chaos on federal workers, delay pay for service members, and weaken our position on the global stage. To hold these people hostage instead of just letting them do their jobs is so wrong. These aren't my words, these are the words of Congressional Democrats over the last six years. I hope that they will listen to their own advice for once. Let's be clear about how we got here. Republicans did our job. We did the right and reasonable thing by passing a nonpartisan clean CR to keep the government open while we work to return the appropriation process to regular order.
(13:23)
The reason the government is shut down this morning is because the Democrats decided they would rather hold our government hostage and issue a $1.5 trillion ransom note of radical demands instead of joining us as we try to govern. Make no mistake, their top priority is not fighting for Americans' healthcare. Their top priority is picking a fight with President Trump and scoring political points with their far-left base in the process. The American people aren't fools, however, and they won't be used as pawns in this ridiculous game.
(14:02)
To my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, it's not too late. You can still do the responsible thing by passing our clean CR in the Senate and sending it to President Trump's desk immediately. The time for staged photo ops, selfies, and scripted talking points is over. The time for deliberate action is now.
(14:27)
And with that, I'm going to turn it over to Chairman Cotton, our honorary Minnesotan.
Speaker 6 (14:34):
Well, I want to thank Speaker Johnson and House Republicans for doing their job, passing a simple, straightforward funding bill to keep the government open for seven weeks. But here we are in a Schumer shutdown. And why are we in a Schumer shutdown? I think we all know the answer to that because Chuck Schumer is scared of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Chuck Schumer is scared of his radical left-wing base. That's why we're in the Schumer shutdown. How do we get out of it? Again, let's be clear, as President Trump, Speaker Johnson and Senator Thune have been, the Democrats need to pass the House's seven-week funding bill. Until then, there's nothing to negotiate, there are no compromises to be had, there's no gains, there's no back channels. There's another vote today in the Senate and Senate Democrats will hopefully do the right thing. And if they don't today, then they'll have another chance later this week and next week. And as long as it takes until the Senate passes the House bill. That's the way we will end this needless Schumer shutdown.
(15:52)
I now welcome Chairwoman McClain.
Speaker 7 (15:53):
Thank you. Well, good morning everybody. Let me put this as plainly as I can. House Republicans voted to keep the government open with a clean CR, period, end of conversations. No gimmicks. No partisan demands. And yet, all but one house Democrat voted no. All but one voted to shut our government down, and why? Because Democrats would rather shovel $1.5 trillion of your hard-earned money into radical projects, handouts for illegals and climate schemes in foreign countries.
(16:41)
Now, just think about that for one minute. Millions of Americans got up before dawn this morning and will put in 8, 9, 10 hours today and get a paycheck. But you know what? That paycheck is theirs, and Democrats want to waste their paychecks. Listen, Democrats can hold all the press conferences they want. They can spin and lie all day long, but a press conference won't open the government. The only thing that will is passing the clean common sense bill that Republicans have delivered.
(17:24)
And I will close with this. The radical Democrats want to use your hard-earned money to fund radical programs. They want to use your hard-earned money to give illegal immigrants free government benefits. And I would say, Chuck Schumer, you might want to check with Maxine Waters because she doesn't think that's a lie. And what do Democrats want to do? They want to use your money to fund climate change in foreign countries, all while taking away money from our rural hospitals. This is not wrong, it's plain insulting.
(18:06)
And with that, I'm going to turn it over to my friend, Shelley Moore Capito.
Speaker 8 (18:13):
Well, I'm the cleanup hitter here and a privilege to be here with the leadership of the House, the speaker and others, and the leadership here in the Senate. The resounding theme that I've heard today is hijack and hostage. The American people are being held hostage and the process has been totally hijacked. We've heard repeatedly how simple, how nonpartisan, how easy the bill that Leader Thune has shown us today in terms of keeping the government open, how easy that is to vote for to give us the seven weeks while we work out our differences.
(18:53)
But not only am I on leadership, I'm also on the Senate Appropriations Committee. The process of appropriating has been hijacked, and that's fine for the Democrats because last year Chuck Schumer did not put one single appropriations bill on the Senate floor. Our leader has put three on the Senate floor and our committee has passed eight bills out of Appropriations. That's the process to get the will of the American people where their priorities are, where they want to see us as a nation go with spending their hard-earned tax dollars.
(19:29)
So, while we have held hostage the American people to keep them from doing things that they like, like touring the Capitol or accessing benefits or the services that are provided by our federal government, they've also hijacked a process that we need to have in order to demonstrate to the American people what we promised them in this election and what President Trump promised them. We're going to go back to regular order, we're going to appropriate the dollars, we're going to be fully transparent and we're not going to ride on some continuing resolution that spends like President Biden wanted to spend. We're going to put our own imprint on this for the American people.
(20:08)
That's what they wanted when they voted us in and that's what we want to give them. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
I want to thank all the senators for being here with us and the House leadership team. These folks have worked very hard. I really appreciate that context, that Chairwoman Moore Capito just added here, reminding everyone that this has been a bipartisan process. The appropriators are doing their work. Republicans are in charge of Congress in both chambers, and we are returning the work of Congress back to regular order, but it takes time to do that. We have to rebuild muscle memory. As noted, Chuck Schumer didn't do that process at all. And so, it's hard work. It takes lot of time on the calendar and all we're asking for, is it a little extra time.
(20:51)
We took the liberty this morning to play the highlight reel of everything our Democrat colleagues have said for the last several decades about shutdowns. Used their own words. We'll roll that out, it'll be in the hallway for you later today, you can see that as well, to remind everyone that they always said that shutting the government down would be dangerous, destructive, selfish, and irresponsible. And suddenly, now they changed their tune? Don't buy it. The American people are not buying it.
(21:16)
Chuck Schumer was reminded of a New York Times poll that came out yesterday, 65% of respondents are saying to the Democrats, "Do not shut the government down if you don't get what you want." I think that number is going to rise dramatically as the pain increases, and it is the pain that they have caused. We'll take a few questions.
Speaker 9 (21:33):
[inaudible 00:21:37].
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Yes, the House will be returning next week and they would be here this week except that we did our work. We passed the bill almost two weeks ago out of the house and sent it to the Senate. The ball is literally in Chuck Schumer's court, so he determines that. Now, as you all know, today and tomorrow we recognize the Yom Kippur, the Jewish high holiday, so that's always traditionally a day that Congress doesn't work. We respect that tradition. And so, Friday would've been the first legislative day in the House, but there is nothing truly that we can do much on the floor while the lights are almost literally out here. We have to open the government. The first, the simplest, the most important job of Congress is keeping the government working for the people. All the Democrats have always said that until this week. Yes?
Speaker 10 (22:22):
Are you open to making any changes to the bill to get Democrats onboard? And secondly, [inaudible 00:22:23] since the White House?
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Well, have I? I don't know. I've talked to one of them on the phone. We have open dialogue all the time. But here's the simple fact, there isn't anything we can do to make this bill any better for them. We literally did not put one single partisan provision in the bill. There's no policy riders, there's no gimmicks and no tricks. Now, we could have done that. I had a lot of colleagues that wanted us to load this up with our priorities, but the leaders decided that we should do this in good faith, simply to buy more time, again, for the appropriations process to work. That's all this is. So, there's nothing to negotiate. There's nothing that we can pull out of this bill to make it any leaner or cleaner than it is. It's absolutely sparkling clean, and it's only 24 pages long, okay? We're carrying it around as an exhibit. You've all read it, I hope. Everybody can read this. It's very, very simple and it's not much more to it. Yes, sir? Yes? Sir.
Speaker 11 (23:22):
Peter Thune he's open to negotiate an extension of ACA subsidies in the context of broader reform once the government is reopened. Do you share that position?
Speaker 1 (23:36):
This is an extraneous matter right now. What the Democrats are doing is trying to grab a red herring. They're trying to bring in a December policy decision, which by the way, is expiring because they themselves, the Democrats put that into law. They had the expiration date set by themselves, but that is not a decision that has to be made until the end of the year, December 31. They're trying to bootstrap that and bring it into this very simple, very clean decision of a September funding stopgap. Don't buy it. They're grasping at straws because they want to have something to argue. They're claiming that Republicans are hurting healthcare. You should go read Chuck Schumer's counter proposal for the CR. We have a clean CR. They have a dirty CR, okay? And one of the reasons it's so dirty is because they wanted to cut $50 billion from the rural hospital fund that we all work so hard to put into the American family's tax cut because the One Big Beautiful Bill handled that.
(24:31)
Now, there's something that you might want to think about. Why do they want to cut $50 billion from rural hospitals? Because many of them, most of them are in red states. I mean, I hate to say it that way, but I can't figure out any other reason they would argue for that. And by the way, if they care so much about healthcare for the American people, they would not shut the government down because you know what stopped today, among the other important programs and services? Is women, infants' and children's nutrition programs. They have stopped sustenance for people, healthcare for veterans, medical services, mental health services, all the things that people rely upon.
(25:03)
FEMA. How many of you know we're in the middle of hurricane season? There's two off the coast of the US right now. They have stalled the work of FEMA and they have prevented people from renewing or getting new flood insurance programs right now in the middle… It's dangerous. It is destructive, and it's unconscionable to us that Chuck Schumer should do this and would do this for his personal political reasons. The only question that we'll leave you with this morning is how long will the Democrats allow Chuck Schumer to drive them off this cliff? Every single American needs to ask that question. Thanks for being here this morning.
Speaker X (25:37):
Well done.
(25:37)
[inaudible 00:25:40].