Johnson Exposes Latest Demands From Dems in Shutdown Fight

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson placed the blame for the ongoing government shutdown squarely on Senate Democrats Monday, warning that their refusal to compromise is inflicting real hardship on working Americans — and that patience is running thin.

“Day 27 means it’s almost been a full month since the Democrats shut down the government,” Johnson said in remarks from Capitol Hill. “And as we near the end of this month, the pain being felt by so many hard-working people around this country is very real and it gets worse with each passing day.”

According to Johnson, over 1.4 million federal workers have already missed a full paycheck, with countless families — including those of air traffic controllers, TSA agents, Border Patrol officers, and U.S. troops — now at risk of losing another at month’s end.

“The Trump Administration has done everything possible to bend over backwards to try to find sources of funding within the federal government to be able to cover the bases, but it is getting more and more challenging with each day,” the Speaker said, commending President Donald Trump’s efforts to protect military pay during the standoff.

Johnson made clear that Republicans have repeatedly voted to reopen the government, passing multiple funding bills only to see Democrats block them in the Senate. “Now, every Republican in Congress wants to stop this madness desperately,” he said. “We have voted many times — over a dozen times, collectively 13 times — to reopen the government. But here’s the simple fact: we can’t do it alone. You need 60 votes in the Senate. We only have 53 Republicans.”

“The Democrats are the ones voting repeatedly to shut down the government. But they’re not opening it back up,” Johnson declared, holding up a chart outlining what he called “four simple facts” about the standoff.

“Democrat votes are required to open the government. They refuse to do it. They have now voted 12 times to keep the government closed,” he explained.

Johnson also blasted what he described as radical demands from Senate Democrats, accusing them of prioritizing welfare for noncitizens over the needs of American families.

“These are just four sub points under fact number three,” he said, “but among the things they’re demanding — this is what the Democrats in the Senate are demanding to reopen the government: They want to give $200 billion in health benefits to illegal aliens and noncitizens paid for by U.S. taxpayers. That is in their proposal. They want billions in wasteful programs to be returned to foreign countries.”

The Speaker went on to say that Democrats’ spending demands also include “a half a billion to left-leaning news organizations” and “cuts of $50 billion from rural hospitals.”

“We cannot, we will not do those things. And they know that very well,” Johnson concluded, reaffirming the GOP’s commitment to fiscal sanity, national sovereignty, and putting American citizens first.