WASHINGTON — On Day 28 of the Democrat Shutdown, Speaker Johnson held a press conference alongside Republican Study Committee (RSC) Chairman August Pfluger, RSC members, and House GOP Leadership to discuss how Democrats are keeping the government closed out of fear of the Far-Left. Speaker Johnson also highlighted how House Republicans are in their districts helping their constituents navigate the consequences of the Democrat Shutdown.
“Simply put, it’s the profound fear in the Democratic Party that drives this shutdown. It is not principle, it’s not policy. It’s certainly not concern for the constituents that they say that they want to represent,” Speaker Johnson said. “We know that because even their own constituents now are begging Democrats to stop the political games and reopen the government.”
Watch Speaker Johnson’s full remarks here.
On Republicans working in their districts during the Democrat Shutdown:
House Republicans are trying to help Americans navigate the crisis that the Democrats have created with their selfish political decisions. Here’s a few more examples. In Montana, Congressman Troy Downing: he’s met directly with his TSA officers and air traffic controllers who continue to show up to work while Democrats keep the government closed.
In New York, Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis has been working around the clock, hand in hand, with her local national park officials to organize community cleanups and maintain our public lands doing the work Democrats left behind as park rangers and visitors staff remain furloughed under their shutdown. In Sullivan County, Indiana and down in South Texas, you have Congressmen Mark Messmer and Brian Babin. They’ve strategized with rural hospital leaders to ensure that these communities are able to access that $50 billion rural hospital fund. By the way, the Democrats want to defund this. This is the very fund that the Democrats worked hard to kill in their counterproposal to reopen the government.
In South Carolina, Congresswoman Sheri Biggs has been meeting with her small business owners who continue to serve their communities, many of whom are already feeling the benefits from Republicans work to deliver no tax on tips. We did that in the big beautiful bill, the Working Families Tax Cut. It’s a wildly popular measure that, by the way, every Democrat voted against. In Oregon, Congressman Cliff Bentz is meeting with his air traffic officials as they wait on Democrats to reopen the government and deliver the federal funds, they need to expand that region’s critical air travel infrastructure. And here in Washington, the work has gone on in earnest as well.
On Democrats fearing their Far-Left base:
Republicans are not demanding anything, literally nothing. All we want is to reopen the government. The Democrats are demanding all those things I just showed you on the chart, plus a lot more. When I say they want to send money to foreign countries, this is some of the things that that they would propose that we spend money on. Again, they’re demanding this as a ransom to reopen the government. Things like $4 million for global LGBTQI+ awareness campaigns around the world, $4 million for the LGBTQI+ democracy grants in the Balkans. They want $2 million for feminist democratic principles projects in Africa. We’re not doing that. But again, the question is why? This sounds crazy. Why would they do this? And what we saw on vivid display over the weekend was the reemphasis of this fact. This is motivated purely out of fear.
And what do we mean by that? You saw the Democratic Leader in the House, Hakeem Jeffries, endorse Zohran Mamdani for Mayor of New York City on Friday. It was an illustration of what we’re facing here, that the Democrats right now fear the Far-Left activists more than they fear air traffic controllers, Border Patrol agents, American service members, and so many others missing their paychecks. They fear the Marxists insurgents like Mamdani more than they fear families and children going hungry from lapsed benefits that keep food on their tables. They simply fear losing their own political positions next November if they don’t appease the angry Far-Left base right now. And they will appease that base at any cost, no matter how much pain’s inflicted. In fact, they’ve said in their own words, this gets better for us day by day. How does it get better? Because they’re proving to the angry Far-Left base in their party that they will prioritize them over the American people. And simply put, it’s the profound fear in the Democratic Party that drives this shutdown. It is not principle, it’s not policy. It’s certainly not concern for the constituents that they say that they want to represent. We know that because even their own constituents now are begging Democrats to stop the political games and reopen the government.
On working class, union employees abandoning Democrats:
President Trump and the Republican Party achieved some very important, historic things in the last election cycle. We had a true demographic shift in the election. We had a record number of Hispanic and Latino voters, for example, who came into the Republican party. A record number of African American/black voters, Jewish voters, union workers, young people, you know, demographics that had not traditionally in recent years been with the Republican Party in large numbers. And they came to us not reluctantly with, but with hopeful anticipation. Why? Because they wanted a return to common sense. And they saw what the other party had done to them with their terrible policies and their terrible ideas. And the radical, woke Marxist progressive agenda. And they realized that didn’t work for them. So, they came to us, and they said, can you do better? Well, we did. We have. We passed the One Big Beautiful Bill, the Working Families Tax Cut; all of our legislation, everything that President’s done with executive orders, fulfilling his promises. Our codifying of those things and doing the rest of our legislative agenda, which is being held up right now because this, we’re delivering for those people.
It is not a surprise to me that union workers would come enthusiastically supporting common sense. What we’re asking for here is common sense. They’re supporting the party, they’re supporting the President, because they know who’s working for the American people and who is not, who is causing an inflicting pain on the American people. The contrast has never been more clear. We say all the time, this is not your father’s Democratic Party. I grew up in Louisiana. When I was a kid, I didn’t even know a Republican–literally everybody was Democrat. And you know, there’s Southern Democrats, Conservative Democrats down in Louisiana. That party doesn’t exist anymore. My grandfather would not recognize what this party has become…They’d all be Republicans because the Republicans stand on the side of common sense and working families, hardworking middle-class, lower-class earners in the country. We drafted the Working Families Tax Cut to be geared for them, to help them. And we infused the legislation with all this pro-growth policy so that all boats will rise. People see that. They see the effects. The policies and ideas that are advanced of the Republican Party are right for America because they comport with our founding principles and we stand on those principles to defend them. And by contrast, on the other side of the screen, they’re going for communism and Marxism.
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