Refusing to negotiate in good faith with Democrats.
Pathologically lying about Democrats wanting to fund health care for illegal immigrants.
Willing to let working and middle class Americans suffer with crippling price increases stemming from the Medicaid, Affordable Care Act, and Rural hospital health care cuts enacted in their Big Ugly Billionaires First Bill.
Those were some of the major points offered by Arizona Representative Yassamin Ansari, State Democratic Leader Priya Sundareshan, and Senator Mark Kelly with about 24 hours to go before Donald Trump and MAGA-Project 2025 Republicans allow a government shutdown of their own design.
In remarks following a Democratic House Caucus meeting at the Capitol, Representative Ansari called out House Speaker Mike Johnson for telling his Republican Party members to stay away from Washington D.C. instead of negotiating a funding solution with Democrats on restoring health care assistance to deserving American citizens.
In her remarks delivered while walking the streets of Washington D.C., Representative Ansari said:
“So we are… a little over 24 hours away from a Republican government shutdown. And what’s crazy is that there are literally no Republican members of Congress here in Washington, D.C. We just wrapped up a Democratic caucus meeting in the capital, where we could barely get inside the building because the doors are locked because Mike Johnson has told Republican members of Congress not to come here, even though the government is going to shut down tomorrow at midnight if Republicans cannot earn Democratic votes. We are here fighting for health care. What I want people to know is that our number one priority is protecting Health Care. A couple of months ago, Donald Trump signed the Big Ugly Bill into law. Rips away Medicaid from 17 million Americans. Because of that, rural hospitals are also closing across the country. Affordable Care Act tax credits are going to expire, so people are going to see their premiums jacked up within the next couple of weeks. It’s astonishing to me, just being from Arizona that some of our Arizona members I’m talking about people like Juan Ciscomani, Eli Crane, David Schweichert, Andy Biggs...So many others all voted for this bill. Tens of thousands of their own constituents are going to have their health care premiums go up very soon, and they are not even here to do their jobs…. After this meeting that Trump had today in the White House with our Democratic leadership. We’ll see what happens, but they’re continuing to lie. They’re pathological liars. They keep talking about illegal aliens and transgender people…They’re trying to distract from the fact that they’ve gutted Health Care for so many people in this country because they want to give billionaires tax breaks. Simple as that. And now, they’re trying to lie and manipulate, and cover that up. They can come to the table. They can negotiate…They can cancel the cuts, so that is what we are laser focused on tomorrow all day, every day. Here to do our jobs, so we’ll keep you posted. Please follow this. Please share. Please amplify. Contact your reps. It’s incredibly important.”
In prepared remarks, State Democratic Leader Priya Sundareshan outlined all the ways Trump and Republicans have betrayed the trust of the American People with their draconian and ill advised budget cuts and divisive acts by going after Democratic controlled areas and political enemies.
In her presentation, Senator Sundareshan said:
“You may have been hearing about a government shutdown, But what does that really mean?…At the federal level. Republicans control all three, the House, the Senate, and the White House. Which means Republicans control every branch of the federal government. So, if the federal government shuts down on Tuesday, because Republican members of Congress failed to pass a stopgap funding bill, that’s on the Republicans. Democrats are rightfully holding the line. They’re calling on Republicans to cancel the federal cuts that were made by Republicans. Cuts that are already impacting American families across the Nation, increasing costs for groceries and health care and electricity. The American People have watched Republicans slash Medicaid and health care subsidies that working families depend on, all to pay for billionaire tax cuts, deploy U.S troops to police our blue cities, trample over Congress’s own spending authority, violating due process across the Nation, defunding our public media, and now, using the Department of Justice to go after the president’s personal political enemies. The bitter stalemate between Trump and Democrats has been building for months. He’s already broken their trust by refusing to negotiate with Democrats at all. Democrats have a responsibility to reject a no strings attached funding stop gap bill and to protect the American people from attacks from Republicans in Congress and Trump. Look if Republicans really back the president, then they should give him the votes.”
Finally, Senator Mark Kelly took to the Senate floor to implore Senate Republicans to stop the punitive health care assistance cuts and work with Democrats to keep the government open.
In excerpts released by the Senators press team, Senator Kelly conveyed:
“In Arizona, more than 379,000 people have reduced premiums through these tax credits. […] So, if those tax credits are allowed to expire, that means their health care premiums for next year go up as much as 55%. That’s hundreds of dollars every single month. And that blows a huge hole in the family budget. It means canceled family trips; it means not being able to sign your kid up to a sports league. It means taking on more shifts just to cover this added cost. For a lot of folks, it means they will not be able to afford health care insurance at all. […] In the richest country in the history of the world, there is no reason why somebody who is working full time shouldn’t be able to afford basic health insurance. No one should be one accident or one unexpected illness away from financial ruin. No one should be unable to take their kid to a doctor when they get sick…”
“…But instead of working with us to lower costs and avoid a shutdown, Donald Trump has refused to even sit down and talk about it for weeks until just today—barely 24 hours before the deadline. He’d rather watch the country inch closer to a shutdown than to try to figure out solutions. And, Mr. President, it’s going to be everyday Americans who pay the price…”
“…There’s still time to extend the premium tax credits and protect families from higher costs while keeping the federal government open and serving Americans. Mr. President, we can do this. We’ve just got to be willing to sit down and work to figure it out. I know I am…”
And what is the Stable Genius in the White House doing to pull the country from the government shutdown abyss.
Posting racist videos about the House Democratic Leader.
There is only one political party responsible for this government shutdown if it comes to pass.
That is the Republican Party led by American Duce Wannabe Donald Trump and Supply Side- Plutocratic Loving-Christian hypocrites Mike Johnson and John Thune.
Do not let anyone tell you different.
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