Democrats Make History for the Wrong Reasons, Says House Speaker

On the 22nd day of the Democratic government shutdown, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) criticized the Democrats for making history inappropriately. He highlighted various elements included in their “dirty” counterproposal, which aimed to reopen the government while restoring funding for liberal projects overseas.

Johnson opened his press conference by stating, “This is the second longest government shutdown of any kind in our country’s history, and it is truly disgraceful. Democrats continue to make history, but they’re doing it for all the wrong reasons.”

He has consistently mentioned that Republicans had passed a straightforward, bipartisan continuing resolution to ensure the government remained operational.

“Now, look on the other side of that metaphorical split screen. It’s pitch black over there. Why? Because Democrats have managed, in nine and a half months, to lead us to a government shutdown,” he pointed out, noting that Congressional Democrats have voted 12 times to maintain the shutdown as a means to blame Republicans.

Johnson added, “It’s been over a month since we passed a clean short-term continuing resolution. It’s bipartisan, straightforward—no gimmicks or partisan Republican policies attached. It’s just 24 pages long.”

In contrast, he labeled the Democrats’ proposal as a “dirty” CR bogged down with partisan issues.

“We have a clean CR. We call theirs a dirty CR, and you know why. They added $15 trillion in new mandated spending, along with substantial taxpayer money for health care for illegal immigrants,” Johnson elaborated.

He also pointed out that Democrats wish to restore funding for various leftist projects globally, referencing a list that included significant taxpayer support for media outlets such as NPR and PBS.

Additionally, Johnson reminded the public of Democrats’ attempts to repeal the $50 billion that Republicans enacted on July 4th to aid rural hospitals.

“Here’s the kicker: Democrats can’t even agree on their own demands. If you were to ask Congressional Democrats what it would take to reopen the government, you wouldn’t get a consistent answer,” he said, encouraging reporters to put that question to Democrats directly.

“They hastily assembled this left-leaning policy proposal when they were aware that they couldn’t strike a deal, all while Republicans were focused on providing a clean CR to fund the government responsibly,” he added.