WASHINGTON — On Day 29 of the Democrat Shutdown, Speaker Johnson held a press conference alongside House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast and House GOP Leadership to provide another civics lesson to Democrats and media members who refuse to acknowledge that 60 votes are required to pass the clean CR in the U.S. Senate. Speaker Johnson also addressed Democrats abandoning unions despite their plea to reopen the government and ensure federal workers are paid.
“It is a shame that Democrats need to be publicly prodded by millions of hardworking Americans to just simply do the most basic function of their jobs. A rational person would read the pleas of the federal workers and conclude that it is time to end the charade and turn the lights back on,” Speaker Johnson said. “But the Democrats are not rational right now. They’ve deliberately ignored the plight of all these federal workers around the country.”
Watch Speaker Johnson’s full remarks here.
On Democrats either not understanding civics or willfully misleading the American people:
Ronald Reagan used to remind us that you can always trust the American people. And we do. We trust their intelligence, and we trust their understanding of basic civics. In fact, we trust the American people’s understanding of civics far more than the Democrats in this building right now. And a quick reminder of that; the people know that in the House of Representatives, you need a majority vote. You need 218 votes to pass legislation, to pass a clean continuing resolution to fund the government. That’s exactly what we did on September 19. They also know that in the Senate, you have to have 60 votes to pass substantive legislation. And we’ve only got 53 Republican seats. That means we need, by the math, at least seven Democrats to join us to reopen the government. Now, in other words, the Democrats are the only reason that the government is closed, and there is no other way to spin that to make something else true about it.
And of course, the Democrats know all that. We’ve seen their party leaders and we’ve now made their, their phrases and their comments famous here every morning. Chuck Schumer, Whip Katherine Clark in the House, they’ve openly admitted that they’re using the pain of the American people as their leverage. Why? To show to their base that they’re fighting. And they’re counting on the American people not noticing all this. And that’s the very reason why we have to come in here every morning and relay the simple truth.
On Democrats abandoning labor unions and federal employees:
On Monday, the largest union of federal workers, the American Federation of Government Employees came out and publicly urged Democrats to join Republicans and pass the House’s short-term funding bill. The union’s president said, “A strong America requires a functioning government, one that pays its bills, honors its commitments, and treats its workforce with respect by paying them on time.” Amen to that. Of course, we agree.
But it wasn’t just the AFGE, you had the same commentary, the same plea by the National Association of Air Traffic Controllers, the Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations, the Net Jets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots, the Allied Pilots Association, the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, the leader of the Teamsters and the New York Steamfitters Union. They’re all coming out. These are the constituencies that the Democrats claim that they support. And that’s why the unions came on side of the Republicans in the last election. They’ve had enough of this nonsense, and they’ve all called on Senate Democrats to end this shameful shutdown. And it is a shame that Democrats need to be publicly prodded by their millions of hardworking Americans to just simply do the most basic function of their jobs. A rational person would read the pleas of the federal workers and conclude that it is time to end the charade and turn the lights back on. But the Democrats are not rational right now. They’ve deliberately ignored the plight of all these federal workers around the country.
On the mainstream media and Democrats both distracting from the pain caused by the shutdown:
According to the Media Research Center study, by a 2.5 to one margin, the Capitol Hill press corps has tweeted more about the House calendar during the shutdown than the negative consequences of the Democrat Shutdown. The troubles that we have, the hardships that are being experienced because of the troop pay and WIC funding and flights grounded and SNAP funding, you guys are writing more about the House calendar than the real pain that’s being inflicted on the American people. And that’s why we have to come in and relay the simple facts.
Now, there’s a misguided strategy that the Democrats are pursuing right now, and it reveals two important things that can’t be glossed over. Number one, it shows they have no cards to play except to try to blame the other team, which is ridiculous. And it shows how little they think of the American people. They had a rally a couple weeks ago. They tried to portray President Trump as a king. And we pointed out again the obvious truth. If the President was a king, then the government would be open. He’s been trying to do that. And low-income families would be getting the food assistance that they need by Saturday. Republicans cannot wave a wand and reopen the government on our own. We must have a handful of centrist Democrats in the Senate do the right thing.
And any Democrat suggesting otherwise knows exactly what they’re doing, and they insult the intelligence of the American people, and by the way, every reporter in this room, when they do that. Unlike Democrats, Republicans have nothing to twist or spin. We are just simply here relaying the simple facts and the truth. And the American people are responding to that. And that’s why the polling indicates that they trust us more than the other side, because we are the ones here telling you the truth. We have nothing to hide. They are trying to obscure the facts.
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