Press Releases

WASHINGTON — On Day 34 of the Democrat Shutdown, Speaker Johnson hosted a press conference alongside House GOP Leadership to dismantle Congressional Democrats’ most flagrant lies about their government shutdown. Speaker Johnson also addressed Democrats fear of the Far-Left radicals in their own party.

“What is outrageous to us is that they have gone onto the Senate floor and they have voted no. They have voted to close the government,” Speaker Johnson said. “And then they have gone out to the hall, to the nearest camera they can find, and they look into the lens and say, ‘Republicans are shutting down the government…’ It's the most extreme example of gaslighting in the history of American politics.”

Watch Speaker Johnson’s full remarks here.

On Democrats lying about their votes to shut down the government:

The obviously false claim from the Democrats is that Republicans have closed the government. I've heard them say this myself. You've all seen it in interviews. They're blaming the shutdown on the Republicans, and it is patently absurd. The next slide will show you the simple fact, the obvious fact that everyone can see, it is Republicans who have voted to open the government 14 times. Now, remember how this came about. Back on September 19, in the House, Republicans voted to open the government, to pass the clean continuing resolution to keep everything in operation. Every Democrat, except one, in the House voted to close the government, but we still passed it because we have the majority. And so we sent that bill over to the Senate. And on 13 different occasions, 13 times, the Democrats have voted to close the government. Republicans voted yes every time to open it. Republicans and the Senate and the House voted to keep the lights on, to pay service members and our troops who are in harm's way, Border Patrol agents, TSA, air traffic controllers, all federal workers.

They voted to ensure that women, infants, and children nutrition programs continue and that SNAP benefits continue to go to the American families who are in need. But by contrast, the Democrats have voted no every single time. And what is outrageous to us is that they have gone onto the Senate floor and they have voted no. They have voted to close the government. And then they have gone out to the hall, to the nearest camera they can find, and they look into the lens and say, “Republicans are shutting down the government.” It makes no sense. It's the most extreme example of gaslighting in the history of American politics. And many in the media have allowed them to get away with that.

On the false claim that Democrats are “fighting for health care”:

False claim number three, Democrats are fighting for health care. You've heard this over and over and over. Let me say something very simply about this false claim. It is the Democrats who created Obamacare. It is the Democrats who did that without any Republican votes. It's the Democrats who, by extension, have cost the American taxpayers and people who have health insurance have made their costs skyrocket. It is their policies that made that happen. And so instead of reforming it, the Democrats don't reform Obamacare, they want to subsidize it. They want to spend more taxpayer dollars. That, by the way, goes mostly to insurance companies, which makes the cost rise further. That's the Democrats plan. When they passed Obamacare in 2010, they called it the Affordable Care Act. We know the truth is exactly the opposite.

By some estimates, premiums have risen 60% in many categories since they passed that bill into law. Now, the fact is, the opposite. Republicans are the ones fighting to save health care. Why? It's not just talking points to us. We do this, we have ideas and we have already implemented ideas and measures to reduce costs, increase access and quality, and eliminate fraud, waste and abuse. Now, why do we say it's not just a talking point? Why do we say the Republican Party is the only one advancing commonsense reform solutions? Because we've proven it. We did that in the big beautiful bill, the Working Families Tax Cut. We took a look at Medicaid, and we took on that challenge. We took action to reduce fraud, waste, and abuse in Medicaid. We got able-bodied young men without dependents off the program. We got illegal aliens off the program, and we saved $185 billion, just to start. We got millions of ineligible enrollees off the program, and it preserved it, it strengthened Medicaid for the people who rely upon it, which is the elderly, disabled, and young pregnant women. No, it's not about health care. That is a false claim, and everybody knows it. Everyone in America, and certainly everybody in this room understands that this is about something else. That what this is about is about fear. The Schumer Shutdown was never about health care. That's a distraction. It's a red herring, as we say in debate club. Okay? This is about fear and what is the fear, the resolution on the COVID-era Obamacare subsidy issue was always going to be slated for debate in October, November, and December. Everybody knows that, and every Democrat knows that it's an issue that's too complex to be solved on a short-term funding measure like a CR.

On Democrats running scared from their Far-Left base:

This is about fear. Everybody in the country is watching the elections that'll happen tomorrow. You got big elections in New Jersey and Virginia, the governor’s races and attorney general’s races, et cetera. But all that, the attention is focused primarily on New York City. Why? Because the fear that Mamdani and all that he represents will be risen to power, that he'll be elected the mayor of America's largest city, the, the once cradle of capitalism, that we're going have a Marxist, a communist, running the largest city now. This terrifies the establishment old guard Democrats in Washington, and the leaders of both chambers are among those most terrified. They're both from New York. Leader Hakeem Jeffries is the Democrat in the House and Leader Schumer in the Senate. They're both from New York and they're terrified. You've watched their actions carefully. Many of you have not reported on it enough.

Hakeem Jeffries had to ultimately, finally, he was forced to endorse Mamdani, and he's terrified that he now owns the results of that. Chuck Schumer has been dancing around the issue, but he knows he's darned if he does, darned if he doesn't, they're both terrified. And so that is the fear. This is a fact, and you should print it this way. Schumer and Jeffries and their colleagues fear political retribution from the Far-Left activists in their party more than they fear the consequences of keeping the government closed for weeks on end. They fear that personally for their own political future, and they care more about that than they care about SNAP benefits flowing to hungry families, about air traffic controllers being paid so they can keep the sky safe, Border Patrol, troops, and all the rest. It pales in comparison, and this is a simple summary that is a simple fact. It is extremism on the Left that is the direct cause of American suffering right now.