Speaker Johnson on Democrat-Led Government Shutdown: “A Reckless Decision”

WASHINGTON - Last night, after Senate Democrats rejected a clean, nonpartisan, short-term continuing resolution and voted to shut down the government, Speaker Johnson joined The Ingraham Angle on Fox News and The Source with Kaitlan Collins on CNN to dispel Democrat lies about the clean CR and discuss the consequences of a government shutdown for American citizens.

Watch Speaker Johnson on Fox News here, on CNN here.

On Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats decision to shut down the government:

It's a very reckless decision that Chuck Schumer has made. The Democrats have taken the last vote within the last few hours, they voted it down once again, and so there's no other option. Now, it's important to note what they're doing here. They are throwing a fit, they're making partisan arguments. The House did its job. We sent to the Senate a clean CR. What that means, it's a very short, stopgap funding measure so that the appropriators in Congress and both parties can continue their work of doing the appropriations bills, 12 separate bills. We made a lot of progress in that. We just need a little more time because tonight is the end of the fiscal year.

Chuck Schumer has refused to give the extra time. Why? Because we won't agree to restore healthcare to illegal aliens, because we won't agree to give a half a billion dollars back to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. He wants to cut the big fund of $50 billion that we set aside to support and prop up rural hospitals in America because we won't agree to those partisan demands. And $1.5 trillion in new spending on a seven-week, stopgap funding measure. He's decided to shut the government down. It's real pain for real Americans, and it's so frustrating.

On everyday Americans who will be harmed by a government shutdown:

What they've decided to do tonight with their vote is to close the government. And what that means, everybody needs to understand, is real pain for real Americans. What does that mean? It means women, infants and children do not get their nutrition programs. That is not funded anymore. Veterans don't get their healthcare services, suicide prevention and other very important things that are very timely. You have low-income persons who are Medicaid, Medicare recipients who are receiving care at home. Those programs are now lapsed. And they just decided to do it. So the only question tonight is, how long will Chuck Schumer keep the government closed? It's a dangerous gambit. It's something that he himself said his entire political career would be dangerous and disastrous. Roll the tape. We've been rolling the greatest hits on our social media.

On Democrat lies about their own proposal to provide free health care to illegal aliens:

What they're trying to do is roll back the reforms, the very important, necessary reforms that we included in the big beautiful bill, the Working Families Tax Cut. It's had the desired effect. The CBO, which is the neutral arbiter supposedly that the Democrats cite all the time, came out three weeks ago and said it worked. It's reducing premiums. Why? Because we got able-bodied young men off of Medicaid, they should have never been there in the first place. And we got illegal aliens off as well. Millions of people removed from the rolls which makes healthcare more affordable for everybody. They want to roll that back.

On Democrats voting to shut down the government despite repeatedly warning against them during the Biden Administration:

I hope the [government shutdown] is very short, because real Americans are going to suffer. It's going to be a hardship for a lot of people. And Chuck Schumer holds all the cards because all he has to do is do what he's done, by the way, 13 times during the previous four years of the Biden Administration. 13 times we avoided a shutdown. We were in the minority party many of those times and we voted and did the responsible, right thing to keep the government open. We're asking Chuck Schumer to do the same, the same thing he did his entire career. He's been here half my life. This is the first time ever he's wanted to shut it down. And I'll tell you why. Because Chuck Schumer's in a political fight, he's fighting for his political life. The last time he did the responsible thing, the far-Left came after him. AOC is going to challenge him.