Speaker Johnson to Senate Democrats: Stop Holding the American Government Hostage

WASHINGTON - On Day Six of the Democrat government shutdown, Speaker Johnson joined the Clay and Buck Show, the Vince Show, and the Hugh Hewitt Show to discuss the consequences of the shutdown on everyday Americans.

Listen to Speaker Johnson on Clay and Buck, on the Vince Show, and on the Hugh Hewitt Show.

On Chuck Schumer's fear of his Far-Left base:

Chuck Schumer's a Far-Left progressive politician. Everybody knows that he's been in Congress for 44 years, about most of our lives, right? He's been serving here, but […] look, all of your life he's been here, okay? But he is yesterday's news. He is the last generation of leadership. He's 74 years old now, and he is no longer the cool kid. Here's the problem Chuck Schumer has, plain and simple. The Marxists are now running New York. That's his state, right? They're about to elect Mamdani, an open Marxist to be the mayor of America's largest city. Chuck Schumer is terrified by that because he knows that he's going to get a challenge from his left and his next Senate reelection bid. And that's a problem, could be AOC or somebody else, but it's almost a guarantee at this point. And he's almost guaranteed to lose.

So, he's got to show a fight against Trump. They didn't have any fight to show, because again, we have a clean CR to keep the government open. So, they concocted this faux issue. They're trying to argue that this is suddenly a debate about healthcare; never was. This is about simple funding, a simple funding measure. The healthcare debate is for the three months ahead of us going into the end of the year. That's the calculation. All this, all the pain inflicted upon the American people is to cover one guy's political future. And his name is Chuck Schumer. And he happens to lead the Democrats in the Senate.

On Democrats playing politics with servicemember paychecks:

I'm afraid they're not going to get that paycheck. This is about to get very real. And it's not just troops, of course. It's TSA agents at the airports. It's border patrol, you know, at the southern and northern borders. It's the people that put on the uniforms to protect all of us. They're being asked to serve without pay. And as has been pointed out today, if you're in the military, you can't quit your job. You know, if you're a civilian employee of the federal government and you don't like all this drama, you can just quit, but troops continue to serve without pay.

And its real hardship for real people because, you know a lot of these people - I think of the young airmen for example, in my district, in the northern corner of Louisiana at Barksdale Air Force Base. The headquarters of the Global Strike Command. We got young airmen who are deployed overseas. They left their young wives at home with two or three children, some of them. And they are relying upon that next paycheck. I mean, this is real pain for real people. Veterans are not getting health services; women, infants, and children that rely upon the nutrition supplemental programs the federal government provides -- all these things are halted right now because the Democrats and the Senate are playing politics.

On the path to reopening the government:

[Democrats] seem not to care. They put their own self-interest above those people that you're referring to. And I thought your point was made so well, and I saw you say that on Fox News and point out, if you're a civilian employee of the federal government, by the way, about half of them are furloughed right now, and you're sick of these Democrat shenanigans, you could just quit your job and go do something else. But to your point, yes, the military, they've made a commitment. They can't leave. They've got to endure this. And we're trying to appeal to the consciousness of these Democrat Senators and say, please, for the love of all that is good and holy, do the right thing. Do the right thing. We have plenty of time to debate our policy differences. Don't hold these young families as hostages for this nonsense. And that's exactly what's happening right now.