September 27, 2023

Chairman Aguilar: House Democrats stand ready to keep the government open

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar and Vice Chair Ted Lieu held a press conference detailing the consequences of the Extreme MAGA Republican-led government shutdown.

CHAIRMAN AGUILAR: Good morning, everyone. We are exactly three days away from an extreme Republican shutdown. 

That means seven million women and children would go without food assistance because of this Republican extremism. 1.3 million service members would be forced to work without pay. 10,000 children will lose access to Head Start. These might just be numbers and statistics for MAGA extremists, but to House Democrats, these are real people’s lives. 

In nearly ten months of control in the House of Representatives, they have done nothing to lower costs, to improve public safety, or invested a single dollar in border security, and they voted to roll back hundreds of thousands of good-paying clean energy jobs. They have no record to speak of because they are too busy fighting amongst themselves—or fighting to curry favor with their favorite former president.

The extreme Republican chaos is hurting our economic recovery and making Americans less safe. House Democrats stand ready to keep the government open, to end the chaos and to work on the most pressing concerns of the American people. 

VICE CHAIR TED LIEU: Thank you. Chairman Aguilar detailed the high cost of a government shutdown. It is going to hurt our economy and endanger our national security. And how do we get here? We got here because Speaker Kevin McCarthy went back on his word. He reneged on a deal that he made with President Biden just a few months after he consummated that deal. And this wasn’t just a handshake agreement. This was a deal that was put in writing, shown to the American people and literally voted into law.

Democrats and Republicans disagree on many issues. We work together on various issues. But in this town, your word still matters. How do we the American people trust Kevin McCarthy if he simply goes back on a deal that was put into law? 

I ask Kevin McCarthy to simply honor the deal that he made that was voted into law and to start taking steps to rebuild his integrity again.

Video of the full press conference and Q&A can be viewed here