Press Releases

WASHINGTON — On Day 33 of the Democrat Shutdown, Speaker Johnson joined Shannon Bream on Fox News Sunday to discuss how, despite the real pain they have caused for working families around the country, Democrats shamefully continue to treat the government shutdown as “leverage.”

“This is not about winning a political contest here. Real people are losing; the American people are hurting,” Speaker Johnson said. “Democrats have voted 14 times now to keep the government closed. 14 times.”

Watch Speaker Johnson’s full interview here.

On Democrats treating the suffering of American families as “leverage”:

Just 24 hours before that [poll] came out, CNN of all places had a big story about how Republicans are winning the shutdown battle. But we reject all of this. This is not about winning a political contest here. Real people are losing; the American people are hurting. Democrats have voted 14 times now to keep the government closed. 14 times. They had the opportunity to have SNAP benefits flow, to let air traffic controllers be paid, to take care of all these problems and pay the troops. And they said no. And it is a fact that no one can dispute. They shut the government down over restoring free healthcare to illegal aliens as part of their $1.5 trillion wild partisan wish list. They're playing games and real people are suffering because of it.

You have all the unions now coming out against them. You have the major airlines in the country; you have every segment of the population and hardworking Americans who will be going without. You have 42 million recipients of SNAP that are in jeopardy right now. You have the women, infants, and children nutrition program that President Trump and the White House have heroically funded thus far is running out of money. And of course, the troops, I mean, we've gotten them paid now for two cycles, but that money is not inexhaustible and it's running out. And so increasingly the American people will be feeling the pain. And after we pass that threshold of the first of this month, it gets very real for more and more people.

On Democrats refusing to fund SNAP then blaming Republicans for the consequences:

It's absolutely absurd. They are accusing the Republicans and the President of doing exactly what they are doing. Remember, don't get lost in the facts, Republicans have voted 14 times to open the government. Democrats have voted 14 times to close it. Who's playing games here? We have a clean, simple continuing resolution, no partisan gimmicks or tricks at all. It's 24 pages in length. It would keep everything going. The President is bending over backwards to take care of the American people, and it's the Democrats who are quite literally using the people as leverage. 

I can quote you Senator, after House Member on the Democrat side in the last two weeks who have said the quiet parts out loud, from Whitehouse, to Coons to Katherine Clark, the number two Democrat in the House. Bernie Sanders, they've all said this is their leverage, their leverage for what? So, they can show that they're fighting President Trump to the Far Left because they're worried about the Marxists rising Democrat Party. We see it in New York City and elsewhere. And because they actually want, and they've argued and they put on paper, they want illegal aliens to receive taxpayer-funded benefits. Again, that is a fact. They've never changed it. They've never pulled back from that. Everybody can see the stark contrast between two parties right now, and only one is fighting for the people. And that's a Republican party.

On the Trump Administration’s actions to protect the homeland from narco-terrorists:

We had a gang of eight briefing with the Secretary of State himself about a week and a half ago. You had Republicans and Democrats there, the top leaders on both sides in intelligence and in elected leadership. We have exquisite intelligence about these strikes, and I can't get into the classified parts, but that information is well known. It is very reliable. And what the President and the Administration are doing is protecting the homeland. That's one of his number one responsibilities. 

I like what Secretary Hegseth said at the opening, “Narco-terrorists will be treated like Al-Qaeda.” We have to do that. They're bringing in huge amounts, tons of illegal narcotics into the country, and it is killing Americans. Remember, fentanyl alone was a leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 49 in the four years of the Biden Administration. We finally have a President who is strong enough to stop that and to protect the people. And one of these boats, Shannon, could kill potentially tens of thousands of Americans. This is serious business. They're taking it seriously and Congress will continue to have oversight. We'll have more of these hearings, but thus far, the intelligence that we have is very reliable.