On Day 15 of the Democrat Government Shutdown, Speaker Johnson held a press conference alongside House GOP Leadership, Main Street Caucus Chairman Mike Flood, Main Street Caucus Vice Chairwoman Laurel Lee, Rep. Nick LaLota, Rep. Zach Nunn, and Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks. Speaker Johnson highlighted the pro-shutdown Senate Democrats who represent states with the largest military populations and thanked President Trump for redirecting unspent funds to ensure troops are paid.
“And here are the indisputable facts of this shutdown. Republicans want to pay the troops, and we have shown that with our actions and our votes now nine times,” Speaker Johnson said. “And the Democrats want to use them as hostages to extort $1.5 trillion in new unserious partisan spending that we just won’t go along with.”
Watch Speaker Johnson’s full remarks here.
On Senate Democrats denying U.S. troops a paycheck:
The depressing irony of this on this subject among all others, is that the most pro-shutdown Democrats actually represent the most active-duty service members back home, whom they have taken hostage in this insidious political game. And I want to give you a couple of examples. And this is the actual statistic; of the 10 states with the largest military populations, six are represented each by two Democrats in the Senate who are withholding the paychecks. Here’s the list.
In California, it’s home to 157,000 active-duty personnel, the most in the country. Those stationed at Fort Hunter Liggett and Camp Pendleton and Edwards Air Force Base and Vandenberg Space Force Base and others, will all miss a paycheck at the end of the month if Democrat obstruction continues. Now, this is worthy of note. Both California Senators Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla are gleeful about this government shutdown. They agree with Chuck Schumer when he said very candidly, just a few days ago, “Every day of the shutdown gets better for us.” Who’s the us? He’s talking about Democrats. He thinks this is assisting their party and giving him political cover, so he doesn’t attract a Marxist challenger in his next Senate reelect. That’s what this is about. He thinks the government shutdown is allowing him to show a fight against President Trump and Republicans, and he is happy about that. And so are Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla, while service members are going without paychecks.
Virginia. Virginia’s home to 119,000 active-duty personnel, the second most in the country. Those stationed at Naval Station Norfolk, Quantico, and Fort AP Hill and others will miss paychecks at the end of this month if this is not resolved. Both Virginia Senators, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, are playing political games with the paychecks of 119,000 service members.
Georgia. Georgia’s home to 65,000 active-duty personnel. It’s the sixth most in the country. Those stationed at Fort Benning, Fort Stewart Moody Air Force Base, and others will miss paychecks. And just last week, this is so aggravating to us, it’s so frustrating to us, it’s so wrong. We saw service members waiting hours in lines wrapped around the block at Georgia food pantries. And meanwhile, you’ve got both Georgia Senators, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, have now voted eight times against paying those heroes.
Washington. The state of Washington is home to 57,000 active-duty personnel. It is the seventh most in the country. And those stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base, Naval Base Kitsap, Joint Base Lewis-McChord and others will miss paychecks. Both Washington Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell have repeatedly voted against pay for service members in the Evergreen State.
Hawaii. Hawaii is home to 43,000 active-duty personnel. It is the eighth most in the country. Those stationed at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, the Schofield Barracks and others will miss paychecks. And both Hawaii Senators Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz have voted against paying soldiers stationed in Hawaii. And by the way, many of them are thousands of miles away from their families.
Colorado is home to 35,000 active-duty personnel, the 10th most in the country. And those stationed at Fort Carson, Buckley Space Force Base, Peterson Space Force Space, and others will miss paychecks. And you guessed it, both Democrat Senators from Colorado, John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet, have voted against paying those troops in their state.
And I just want mention New York, it gets honorable mention, it isn’t in the top 10, but the Empire State is home to 17,000 active-duty personnel, the 17th most in the country. Those stationed at Fort Drum and Fort Hamilton and others will miss paychecks. And sadly, both New York Senators Kiersten Gillibrand and the architect of the shutdown himself, Chuck Schumer, can barely hide their delight that the government is closed and troops are not being paid.
On House Democrats embarrassing theatrics:
Today, if it weren’t for the bold leadership of President Trump helping us to protect our military, everyone needs to understand that 1.3 million active-duty service members would be missing a paycheck. They’ll get their check thankfully, because President Trump has shown strong leadership and under his direction, the Department of War has now redirected unspent funds to ensure that our troops are taken care of. And this is while Democrats are playing political games.
Last night they played some games. They stormed my office. Maybe you saw some of the video online that they themselves shared, or someone did. They berated a Capitol Police officer, screamed at him. He was just merely standing his post. It shows again their disdain for law enforcement as we see all around the country; the Democrats and everyone in that party screaming, assaulting the ICE officers. They did it right here in the Capitol last night. A few members of Congress went into the little foyer of my office and tore down a sign that it had up and just engaged in all sorts of political stunts and antics. They’ve been doing that every day now, and it shows their desperation. It also shows a very strong contrast between the party that is working for the people and trying to keep the government open and do the right thing, and the party that is engaging in all this nonsense. But they’ve shown by their actions and now their votes multiple times now. Nine times the Democrats have voted, counting the House and the Senate Democrats, they have voted to not pay the troops.
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