Democrats’ $1.5 Trillion Shutdown Scheme: Benefits to Border-Crossers, Americans Abandoned

WASHINGTON - With the government shutdown deadline less than 24 hours away, House Republicans have passed a clean, short-term continuing resolution to responsibly keep the government open, protect veterans and seniors, and allow bipartisan appropriators additional time to finish full-year bills through regular order for the first time since 2019.

Democrats, meanwhile, are selling a false narrative:

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.): "Democrats are united in defense of the healthcare of the American people." (X, 09/24/25)

House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.): "We are saying… let's talk about a budget that protects health care for Americans." (CNN, 09/25/25)

Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.): "House Democrats are doing everything we can to protect Americans' access to affordable quality health care." (Press Conference, 09/09/25)

But their actions prove otherwise.

What House Republicans Passed (The Nonpartisan, Clean CR):

• A clean, nonpartisan, short-term measure to keep the government open while appropriators finish their work
• Security funding for Members of Congress and federal officials
• Does not "gut" or make any change to current health care policy

Democrats' Radical Counterdemands (The Democrats' Dirty CR):

• $1.5 trillion in partisan demands for a four-week extension, including:
• Restoring taxpayer-funded free health care for illegal aliens
• Keeping able-bodied, non-working adults on taxpayer-funded health programs
• Permanently extending Biden's COVID pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies
• Repeals $50 billion in rural health care funding, hurting hospitals and clinics in vulnerable communities

Health Care Programs Democrats Put at Risk by Voting Down the Republicans' Clean CR:

• The Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program
• Community health center funding
• Medicare telehealth flexibilities
• Veterans' suicide prevention grants
• Nursing home care for disabled veterans
• Medicare hospital and physician payments
• Rural veterans' mental health programs

The Bottom Line:

Democrats insist they are "defending the health care of the American people." But their plan strips $50 billion from rural hospitals, diverts taxpayer dollars to illegal aliens and able-bodied adults who refuse to work, and risks shutting down veterans' care, Medicare payments, and community health centers.

Democrats aren't protecting American health care - they are weaponizing these critical services as an excuse to shut down the government and protect themselves from their radical base.