Press Releases

WASHINGTON — On Day 27 of the Democrat Shutdown, Speaker Johnson held a press conference alongside Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler, House Small Business Committee Chairman Roger Williams, and House GOP Leadership to discuss Democrat Leadership openly embracing Marxism and the Far-Left radical wing of their party. Speaker Johnson also addressed the financial strain that the Democrat Shutdown is placing on small businesses around the country.

“Zohran Mamdani is expected to take the helm of one of the most important cities in the world and the largest city in America. And he now has the full blessing of the Democrat leader in the House of Representatives,” Speaker Johnson said. “It is shocking, and that leader – and all the other Democrats – are going to co-own the consequences of what they do to America's largest city.”

Watch Speaker Johnson’s full remarks here.

On Democrat Leadership embracing Mamdani and the Far-Left:

On Friday, there was a seismic shift in politics. All of you noticed it over the weekend. We saw our clearest sign yet that this radical insurgent movement in the Democrat Party is succeeding. And they are ending what has always been known as the Democrat Party in America. After a months-long pressure campaign from the Far-Left, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries finally relented. He gave in, and he gave his endorsement to the socialist running to be mayor of New York City. The House Democrats have chosen a side, they were forced to by that Far-Left that they're so terrified of, and they've shown the world what they really believe. There is no longer a place for centrists and moderates in their party.

The candidate that they have endorsed, Mamdani, is somebody who we've talked about a lot from this podium. He's sympathized with Hamas and openly embraced antisemitic language. He has called to “seize the means of production” because he is a Marxist. He's called to abolish our borders, to abolish and end immigration enforcement, to defund the police and to legalize prostitution. Among a long list of hits that I could share with you, Zohran Mamdani is expected to take the helm of one of the most important cities in the world and the largest city in America. And he now has the full blessing of the Democrat leader in the House of Representatives. It is shocking, and that leader and all the other Democrats are going to co-own the consequences of what they do to America's largest city. Every reporter in this room should be asking every House Democrat individually, whether they too agree with Hakeem's endorsement of the Marxist agenda. It's an extraordinary moment in the history of American politics; this is not the kind of history that we need to be making. What we're witnessing is truly the end of the Democratic Party as we've known it. And even some Democrats are now saying that out loud.

On the Democrat Shutdown impacts on small businesses:

Small businesses are the largest employers in our country, but unlike Washington Democrats, they don't have the luxury to wait out this shutdown. For many of them, federal contracts have been frozen. SBA loans and support have dried up, and business has dropped off due to uncertainty in the markets. A survey of small business owners across the country found that for the one in five small business owners who rely on government contracts, this shutdown is forcing them to pull back on their investments. And what are those investments? It's new hires, new jobs. It's supplies and services. They have to pull back on those things so that they can make payroll work, so they can keep their employees employed.

One business in Raleigh, North Carolina that relies on federal environmental approval said this: “The backlog that is generated by the shutdown will last long beyond today.” Another business in Georgia, Ms. Loeffler’s home state, specializes in home repairs, added, “When livelihoods are affected in such a manner, home repairs and projects get delayed, if not canceled. A government shutdown is a threat to us all.” For American businesses that rely on loans from the SBA, each day means crucial dollars lost, and that affects every American. At the end of the day, small businesses across the country are being forced to go without roughly $170 million in SBA backed loans each day. And that adds up to $4.5 billion and blocked loans just over the course of this shutdown so far. So, while Chuck Schumer says that “every day gets better” for his party, every day is getting much, much harder for the people who are keeping the lights on around the country.

On the Democrat Shutdown approaching one month:

Day 27 means it's almost been a full month since the Democrats shut down the government. And as we near the end of this month, the pain being felt by so many hardworking people around this country is very real, and it gets worse with each passing day. Here's some of the stats. Last week, 1.4 million federal workers missed a full paycheck. Now, you know, many of them are furloughed and many more are deemed essential workers, for example, to keep the country safe. TSA agents we've discussed, and air traffic controllers and Border Patrol, and of course our troops, but so many of them now are going without pay.

The families of military service members and the air traffic controllers and so many of these others are now at very real risk of missing the paycheck at the end of this month. The Trump Administration has done everything possible to bend over backwards to try to find sources of funding within the federal government to be able to cover the bases, but it is getting more and more challenging with each day. Now, every Republican in Congress wants to stop this madness desperately, and we have voted many times, over a dozen times, collectively 13 times, to reopen the government, to keep it open and reopen it once the Democrats closed it. But here's the very simple and important fact that no one should forget. We have no ability. Republicans do not have the ability to do this on our own. It's a simple math problem. We need Democrats to help. You need 60 votes in the Senate. We only have 53 Republicans. The Democrats are the ones voting repeatedly to shut down the government.