Press Releases

On the ongoing Schumer Shutdown: 

“It's just another Schumer Shutdown that basically [the Democrats] don't want to talk about funding the government. And the bad part about it is, that this particular funding bill was something that they've already voted on, basically, 13 times when we were under President Biden when he was in office. 

“As recently as this last spring, they voted for the basic, same funding levels. So, the whole purpose there is that they're focusing on … trying to make it a story about healthcare and a distraction from really what their responsibility is: to fund the government. All of these Democrats that are voting to not fund the government [are] causing real pain for real people. And now, at least the Democrats are saying that they recognize it's causing pain for people, but they're using it as a political leverage point. And that's a sad way for people being in a leadership role, an American leadership role, to treat American citizens.”

On Democrats playing leverage games instead of working to fund the government:

“It is just a political game that they're playing instead of trying to focus on doing their job, doing their responsibility, which is funding the government. And yeah, there's going to be differences and debate about how much our total appropriations should be for 2026 [and] going forward. But let's keep the government open while we're having that discussion and finalizing that. 

“And that's why we created this CR, this continuing resolution, until November 21st. When we voted on it back in September, it was to actually be able to have some time for the appropriations committees to sit through and come up with … How much are we going to spend on Health and Human Services? How much are we going to spend on defense? How much are we going to spend for the Agriculture department? And with the shutdown, those discussions aren't happening.”

On reopening the government and how to fund it into next year:

“The bill that the Republicans passed out of the House of Representatives sets November 21st as the deadline for the continuing resolution to move forward. The Democrats in the Senate are filibustering it and have voted it down, voted to keep the government closed. So, obviously, if it was going to take six or seven weeks for the appropriations folks to work through the process, then that date would have to be changed to some degree. 

“The Democrats are going to have to come to the table and stop the filibuster, and vote to open the government, whether it's on November 21st, or whether it moves it to a date in January or something, that actually provides enough time for these discussions to be happening.”

On the negative impacts of the Schumer Shutdown on Americans and the economy:

“Well, if you look at the number of workers that are operating under the federal government, there's a little over two million civilian workers, and roughly the same number if you add up the military and the postal service. The reason I break those out is just because of the way they're funded. 

“So we're talking about the salaries for those four million people. Now, there's 100 million other people that are working in the economy and actually going about their daily business, doing their jobs … It has a little bit of an impact … But the bigger issue is going to be that starting last week, there's no paycheck at all for any of those workers.

“That's going to become particularly burdensome … for those individuals. Whether they're trying to pay their mortgage or pay their car payment or go to the grocery store or the drugstore to get medicine for their kids. And that's a piece that's going to be very painful for these individuals that are involved in this. It's really sad that the Democrats are continuing to filibuster and use this as a political leverage point.”

On working to achieve a balanced budget:

“Well, we've slowly made some progress. We've got so much more to do. I mean, the problem is, one out of [every] five dollars that the federal government spends is being borrowed, which means we've got a big problem we've got to work on and address and sort through.

“... You start to get complaints from the government workers who actually run a program, you get complaints from the advocates who cheer on a particular program, and then you get complaints from the people that get paid through a particular program. So you have a lot of folks that are complaining that they want to keep their program. It's a delicate balance as we go through this. 

“A lot of things, some things you can stop right away, but a lot of things you kind of need to phase down through that process. And unfortunately, as Ronald Reagan said, a federal government program is the closest thing to eternal life because it just wants to keep going.”

On enforcing work requirements to be eligible for government programs:

“It's one of the things we highlighted in the Big Beautiful Bill, that we worked on for the Working Families Tax Cuts Act this summer … American people are generous people, and we're going to continue to be generous to help folks that need a hand up. But there's also some expectations that if you're an able-bodied adult and you're receiving, say, Medicaid, which is what we talked about with the One Big Beautiful Bill, was that you're able-bodied, you don't have children, you ought to be working.”

“Even if it's twenty hours a week, or if not working, then go working on [an] education or doing volunteer work in order to get this free healthcare that American taxpayers are paying for you.”

On Democrats attempting to justify their ongoing government shutdown:

“They're just making up different stories as they walk along, trying to find something to justify what they're doing. It's just a political game that they want to play, which is kind of sad because it, I mean, even now they're starting to admit it's hurting everyday people. 

“When we talk about the folks in the district … whether they're needing support from a food stamp program or whether they're … trying to buy a house, and if it's in a flood zone, they can't get flood insurance because that was part of the CR that was going to be extended, the flood insurance program. And … it's a sad way to treat your fellow American citizens, [which] is what they're doing.”

On Democrats’ demands in the government funding bill and hypocrisy on the expiring Obamacare enhanced tax credits:

“The demands they're making are that they take $50 billion away from rural hospitals and that they go out and make sure that the illegal aliens keep their free Medicaid and health care. 

“I think a lot of this is built around the whole concept that Obamacare is failing, and they're seeing it. They covered it up with the COVID bailout and now the COVID bailout's ending the way they structured it. 

“It was the Democrats that chose to end this on December of 2025 because they thought that was enough for them to cover it. And it's getting worse and worse. Premiums are going up, taxpayers are paying more, and this goes back to the basic Obamacare that's going to be struggling without the COVID bailout.”

On when the government will open:

“I don't have a good solid crystal ball. I think they're going to play around with this until after the elections next week because they don't want to disrupt the . . .Virginia and New Jersey governor elections. I just don't think it's going to work out well for them, and it's American people who are suffering because of what the Democrats are doing.”