Rep. Mike Lawler

Well, the Democrats refuse to do their job.

You know, Hakeem Jeffries talks about getting permission.

The reality here is that AOC and Zoran Mandani and the progressive left are who's driving the ship here.

Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries have been petrified to do their jobs.

And so they shut the government down for fear of a primary challenge from the left and

and to show their progressive base that they're, quote unquote, fighting back, resisting, you know, President Trump.

And it's fundamentally wrong.

They are holding the American people hostage.

House Republicans passed a clean, continuing resolution over three weeks ago to keep the government funded, to pay for all of these critical programs, to ensure that our troops are paid, to ensure that Border Patrol agents are paid.

And yet Democrats have voted over eight times against the clean CR.

And we'll see what Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats do today, but it doesn't look good.

And, you know, when I was in Washington last week, I went and confronted Hakeem Jeffries to his face.

and pointed out that if he's serious about tackling the health care challenges in our country sign on to the bipartisan legislation that would do that and he refused so this really is not about health care it's not about a specific policy outcome this is about democrats showing their progressive base uh... that they're fighting back against president trump

Meanwhile, look at the juxtaposition.

President Trump, on a 24-hour trip to the Middle East, secured peace, and Democrats are playing patty cake here in Washington, D.C., shutting the government down and holding the American people hostage.

It's a pretty jarring juxtaposition.

Well, to be clear, the off ramp is the clean CR that's been sitting in the Senate for over three weeks.

With respect to the Affordable Care Act, number one, since Obamacare took effect in 2010, you've seen premiums skyrocket across the country.

And Democrats put in place these enhanced tax credits during COVID.

They were slated to expire at the end of this year.