| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
| They can to find funds to get out the door for these vulnerable populations in our country. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Again, we shouldn't be having to do that. | |
| The Democrats have a chance to change course tonight. | ||
| I believe the vote's taking place at 6:30, and we urge Democrat senators to vote to reopen the government and to do the right thing. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thanks, guys. | |
| White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt briefing reporters on the sixth day of the federal government shutdown. | ||
| You heard her say there that she is waiting to see, along with the rest of the White House, what happens tonight when the Senate comes into session and they hold another round of voting on opening up the federal government. | ||
| They will take their fifth vote on two proposals, a Democrat one and a Republican one. | ||
| The Democrats are asking for changes to health care policy in agreement to open the federal government back up. | ||
| You can follow along with our reporting on all of our networks here today, also online on demand at c-span.org or our free video mobile app, C-SPANNOW. | ||
| We're going to open up the phone lines this afternoon, get your reaction to what you just heard from the White House press secretary as the government shutdown bleeds into the second work week here in Washington. | ||
| Republicans 202-748-8921. | ||
| Democrats 202-748-8920. | ||
| All others, you can call us at 202-748-8922. | ||
| And federal workers, your line today is 202-748-8923. | ||
| You can join us on those lines this afternoon. | ||
| So start dialing in. | ||
| We're going to get to your thoughts here in just a minute. | ||
| But first, I want to show you what House Speaker Mike Johnson had to say earlier today. | ||
| He held a news conference on the stalemate between Republicans and Democrats, and he explained why these health care subsidies are not on the table for a short-term spending bill despite the push from Democrats. | ||
| I believe that the subsidy issue, that's the December 31 issue, is a complicated one. | ||
| It hasn't worked well. | ||
| It's filled with abuse. | ||
| We have a lot of ideas on how to improve upon it. | ||
| If indeed it goes forward, and there's, I mentioned yesterday, there's 535 members of the UniCount House and Senate, and there's probably 400 different ideas on how to fix that. | ||
| But we need the next couple of weeks to have those vigorous, deliberate debates, which is how the process is supposed to work. | ||
| So I'm not going to forecast how that comes out, and neither could any of you, because those debates haven't been held yet. | ||
| And that's kind of the irony because Chuck Schumer is saying something that he knows isn't true. | ||
| He's saying, oh, you guys snap your fingers. | ||
| You and Leader Thun go in the back room and tell us how that's going to be resolved today so we can reopen the government. | ||
| That's impossible for me to do. | ||
| I have to have the input of all of our members so that they can figure that out. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So that's part of the process. | |
| Speaker Mike Johnson earlier today at a news conference saying that he is working on addressing the subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, but it's not a crisis. | ||
| It doesn't need to be dealt with with the debate over federal government spending. | ||
| And so he's saying Democrats need to come to the table at 5.30 p.m. Eastern Time. | ||
| Around then, the Senate will convene for procedural votes on opening up the government. | ||
| The Democrats' proposal, as we said, includes extending funding to October 31st and health care tax credit extension. | ||
| The Republican proposal is what already passed in the House, and it is a clean proposal. | ||
| No policy is included and it would fund the government until November 21st. | ||
| They need 60 votes to advance this measure. | ||
| It's a closed term vote, so they need 60 votes. | ||
| They don't have 60 Republicans. | ||
| So they need eight Democrats to join them in order to move forward opening up the federal government if they want this House GOP version to pass in the Senate and go to the president's desk. | ||
| Now, Republicans were able to get three Democratic senators to join them, two Democrats, one Independent, to join them in previous votes. | ||
| And Republicans are thinking that they can break more off as they continue to vote on opening up the federal government. | ||
| Now, if the measures fail today, which they are expected to do so, from Politico's and Punch Bowls reporting this morning, they say Senate Majority Leader Thun will bring these measures back up for votes on Tuesday. | ||
| And if they fail again, the next time you'll see more voting is on Thursday. | ||
| Let's go to Billy House. | ||
| He is a veteran reporter who's covered Capitol Hill for many years. | ||
| He works for Newsday to get the latest. | ||
| Billy House, so right now, just walk us through this vote in the Senate. | ||
| Of course, we'll have gabble-gabble coverage here on C-SPAN 2. | ||
| Do you expect any more Democrats to break off and join the Republicans? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I don't really, but if there are any, it will be just a couple. | |
| There's not going to be a change or shift in the ultimate outcome, at least not tonight. | ||
| What Democrats are you looking for? | ||
| And who should our viewers be looking for when they come into the chamber and they're watching C-SPAN 2? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, possibly Senator Gillibrand from the U.S. I'm doubtful on that. | |
| I would say that only because she is leading the Senate Democratic election effort pointing to next year. | ||
| And there's got to be some concerns about how this might start to play into the Democrats' chances next year to recapture the majority. | ||
| Again, though, I think that's probably not going to happen tonight with her. | ||
| But if this thing strings out a long time, she's certainly somebody to watch. | ||
| And you broke up a little bit there. | ||
| I think you said New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, correct? | ||
|
unidentified
|
That's correct, yes. | |
| And there's also moderate Democrats or Democrats that are retiring that the Republicans hope they can convince to join them and approve a clean, short-term continuing resolution. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I understood that too, but I also understood why a retiring Democrat would not want to, you know, if this person felt strongly about the Obamacare tax credits and health care fights, would not be even more free to take a harder line. | |
| So I see that both ways. | ||
| We heard from the speaker and we heard from the White House that there could be or there are some talks happening over the Affordable Care Act. | ||
| What have you learned in your reporting? | ||
|
unidentified
|
What I've heard is that those are basically tied to promises about appropriations discussions through November, not necessarily resolving this particular face-off over a short-term seven-week spending bill. | |
| There are some discussions perhaps about how things could go afterward in talks about fixing or what Republicans say need to be fixed or other elements of the subsidies that would expire at the first of the year. | ||
| We also learned this morning from Speaker Mike Johnson, he was asked about potentially a prime time debate, a square off between him and the Democratic leader Hakeem Jefferies on the House floor. | ||
| How did this all come about? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Senator Jeffries wrote a letter to the Speaker saying, let's debate these things out in full public on prime time on the House floor. | |
| Both are, he and the speaker are accomplished attorneys, lawyers, trial lawyers. | ||
| That would have been fun to watch, but the speaker put the kibosh on that right away, saying he's not interested in theatrics. | ||
| And in that anyway, there's nothing he says to negotiate. | ||
| Let's pass this bill. | ||
| And the house is not in session this week. | ||
| Why not? | ||
|
unidentified
|
It's a good question. | |
| There are reports from members that the leadership and some of the political strategists on the Republican side are worried about things that could be said or done or mistakes that could be made or if they were in town. | ||
| But there's also just as much concern about Republicans holding public events in their home districts that could get rowdy. | ||
| So and then there's, of course, the conspiracy theory that Republicans do not want to swear in one more Democratic member, the new member from Arizona, which would potentially give them 218 votes to force an Epstein file disclosure vote. | ||
| Billy House is Washington reporter for Newsday. | ||
| You can follow his reporting on X if you go to at HouseInSession. | ||
| Billy House, thank you as always for joining us. | ||
| We appreciate the insight. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| We'll go to calls. | ||
| Paul in New York, a Republican. | ||
| Paul, we are in the sixth day of a government shutdown. | ||
| What is your message to Washington? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, thank you for taking my call. | |
| I'm actually upset with both parties for putting us in this position once again and holding the people hostages to their political gamesmanship. | ||
| I think the president would serve us well if he would hold both parties to task and finally find a way to solve the health care issue. | ||
| Rather than this being a money, more money issue, I think we have to look at the cost side. | ||
| And I appreciate the president holding both parties to task, and I hope that's what he does. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| But Paul, do you think right now the strategy by Republicans is they will not negotiate over Affordable Care Act as part of the government spending? | ||
| Oh, we lost Paul. | ||
| We'll go to Eric in West Harrison, New York, Democratic caller. | ||
| Eric, your turn. | ||
| Eric in West Harrison, New York, Democratic caller. | ||
| All right, let me try Robin, who is in Mercer Island, West Virginia, is that right? | ||
| Independent. | ||
| Washington. | ||
| There we go. | ||
| Washington State. | ||
| Robin in Mercer Island. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Ram, always. | |
| And I appreciated what Paul had to say about the president holding both parties to task. | ||
| I find myself just disgusted. | ||
| I feel like there's a civil war at the foundational level of governance. | ||
| And I wonder where are the independents who have been voted for, and where do their votes fit with these measures that we're waiting to make happen and with the government shutdown? | ||
| I don't see that. | ||
| And I watch Thiefman, I watch News Nation, I watch local news. | ||
| And I just haven't seen that presence. | ||
| And I'm wondering where are all the independents. | ||
| But I also wonder what Democrats feel like there is to gain with doing this. | ||
| I have friends who work with airlines. | ||
| That was something that we heard Sean Huffey talk about today. | ||
| Yep. | ||
| And I mean, he's right. | ||
| But at the same time, my friends are firmly in the Democrat camp, and they want Democrats to keep towing the line and keep the government shut down. | ||
| So it's just so hard to differentiate. | ||
| Yeah, and Robin, as an independent, who do you blame? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good gravy. | |
| There's people on both sides, to be honest. | ||
| I feel like Democrats have been not entirely truthful, and neither have the Republicans. | ||
| And I just think that's not what they should be. | ||
| I feel like everyday Americans just want things to be running. | ||
| and running smoothly. | ||
| And I understand that there are cuts that need to be made, but I also understand that there are things that are vital. | ||
| And I just, I feel like Democrats are playing into Republican hands. | ||
| And I don't see how that really works in the end if we don't have an open government to have open conversations for work to be done. | ||
| Okay, Robin, let me ask you about the CBS poll that came out this morning because this poll was taken on the first day of the government shutdown. | ||
| We're now in day six. | ||
| Blame the, who do you blame the most for the government shutdown? | ||
| When they took this poll on the first day of the government shutdown, 39% said that they blame the president Republicans in Congress. | ||
| 30% blame Democrats in Congress. | ||
| And 31% said they blame both equally. | ||
| How do you think these numbers would shift and in which way if that poll was taken again today? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I think more people would think that it's equal because Republicans have the opportunity, especially after this evening, to make a compromise and get people back to work. | |
| And honestly, I feel like they don't want the government to be open because they can claim that they are making it more efficient by spending less money on all these things that are being held up right now. | ||
| I just feel like it's ridiculous. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| We'll go to the Hill newspaper and they're reporting about the Affordable Care Act provisions. | ||
| The subsidies that Democrats are pushing for, they were introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic and extended through the end of this year by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, and they expire at the end of December. | ||
| But open enrollment in most states begins November 1st, and insurers could increase premiums if they anticipate these subsidies will expire. | ||
| That could lead to some consumers dropping their health care coverage, even if Congress agrees to extend their premiums after open enrollment starts. | ||
| As part of negotiations to avert and now end the government shutdown, Democrats have pushed for a permanent extension of these subsidies. | ||
| The Democratic-backed bill, which was voted down by all 53 Republicans in the Senate last week, would have kept the government funded through October, permanently extended the tax credits, and restored nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts enacted through that so-called one big, beautiful bill. | ||
| Let's hear from Gene next in Alvin, Texas of Florida. | ||
| And Democratic caller. | ||
| Hi, Gene. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Sure. | |
| Yes, good afternoon. | ||
| Thank you for taking my call. | ||
| Yes, I am very, very, you know, upset with how our government is actually being operated today. | ||
| You know, it's a constant revolving door when it comes to these types of government shutdowns or getting to the point of crawling across the cliff. | ||
| We always get to the debt ceiling issues. | ||
| Every single time, we always have this self-inflicted manufacturer crisis that can be changed if members of Congress would just actually do their job. | ||
| All right, Gene. | ||
| And as Gene notes, this isn't the first time we've been in a government shutdown. | ||
| Take a look at previous stalemates. | ||
| In 1995, during President Bush's tenure, the shutdown lasted five days. | ||
| In President Clinton's term, in 1995 to 1996, it was 21 days. | ||
| President Obama also had a government shutdown for 16 days in 2013. | ||
| 2018, during President Trump's first term, there was a shutdown for three days. | ||
| And then again, later that year, and it slipped into 2019, a government shutdown for 35 days. | ||
| Ed in San Diego, Democratic caller. | ||
| Go ahead, Ed. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, how are you doing? | |
| One of the things that I'm not understanding is that it's like we need to push more of putting the thing up at the Heritage Foundation and the Project 2025 that's actually doing all this. | ||
| It's not necessarily just Trump, but they're the ones that are actually pushing all this. | ||
| And they're the ones that want to push this to a point where they've already got it scheduled to where if we have a shutdown, they're also preparing for in case we go to like a civil conflict. | ||
| And I think that that's what they're really pushing us to do is to push us to the brink of this type of internal destruction. | ||
| That's why he is during that colonel's and the general's meeting that they talk to him, the war within. | ||
| I mean, what else does that mean? | ||
| And that's the stuff we have to look out for: who's actually controlling Trump? | ||
| Who's actually, you know, he's a Manchurian candidate, is what he is. | ||
| And the Heritage Foundation and the Project 2025, everything's lining up and everything's doing it exactly that. | ||
| And that's what we need to look out for. | ||
| All right, Ed. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And this shutdown, he's already prepared. | |
| He's already prepared for the shutdown. | ||
| Okay, Ed's thoughts there in California. | ||
| We'll go to Chelsea, Michigan. | ||
| Wayne is watching there. | ||
| Hi, Wayne. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Go ahead. | |
| Yes. | ||
| I was wondering, and I'm only wondering this because I was watching some news about the ICE, the ICE people that are out there working on the street and they're masking all that. | ||
| One of them looked familiar to me, and I was wondering if there's any way we could check their background to see if they're not part of the all right. | ||
| Wayne, we're talking about the government shutdown. | ||
| We are in the second week of a shutdown here in 2025, and there are certain federal officials that still have to report to work. | ||
| Wayne was talking about ICE. | ||
| Take a look at the government agencies that are mostly impacted by the government shutdown. | ||
| The highest proportion of furloughs are with the EPA, education, commerce, labor, and HUD departments. | ||
| The least affected government agencies, these are the government employees who have to show up. | ||
| Justice and the Office of Personnel and Management, Treasury, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security. | ||
| That's the New York Times reporting on that. | ||
| Also, you should know that some key dates that are coming up. | ||
| Should this government shutdown continue later into later this month, October 10th, that's when most federal workers will miss their first paycheck. | ||
| October 15th, that's when active duty military members are due to miss their first paycheck. | ||
| And all of this, according to Politico, some lawmakers are eyeing October 15th as a possible deadline for action because they do not want that active duty military to miss their first paycheck. | ||
| Speaking of members of Congress, take a look at how they're reacting on Capitol Hill. | ||
| This is from Corey Mills, who represents Florida in the House, crippling economic losses. | ||
| Each week the shutdown extends will wipe out an estimated $15 billion in U.S. GDP. | ||
| A month-long shutdown would mean 40,000 more unemployed Americans. | ||
| And Joyce Betty, who's a congresswoman from Ohio, saying Republicans can't defend their shutdown or skipping negotiations to reopen the government. | ||
| So they're spreading lies about our plan to lower costs and save health care. | ||
| Unlike the big ugly bills tax cuts for the rich, our fight for health care credits help the middle and lower income. | ||
| And right next to it, you can say, you can see truth or lie. | ||
| She says the Republicans are lying, that these health care tax credits go to the highest earners. | ||
| She says that's not true. | ||
| She says most of these credits go to families who are making under $60,000 and earners as so middle class and lower class is what she is saying there. | ||
| And then this is from Andrew Clyde, who is a Republican of Georgia. | ||
| We're now on day six of the Schumer shutdown because Democrats are still refusing to fund the government unless your hard-earned tax dollars pay for health care for illegal aliens. | ||
| And then Congresswoman Rosa DeLora of Connecticut, Republicans shut down the government and then skip town. | ||
| Democrats are ready to address the health care crisis, lower costs, and cancel cuts. | ||
| Republicans are on vacation. | ||
| What do all of you say? | ||
| Nicole in Chula Vista, California, Republican. | ||
| Nicole, your message to Washington. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hello. | |
| I am calling in full support of the Republican Party. | ||
| These individuals that you're stating that are not going to be paid. | ||
| They know what they're signing up for when they choose to work for the federal government. | ||
| This has always been a possibility, no matter who's running the country at the time. | ||
| There have been shutdowns on Democratic side. | ||
| There have been shutdowns on Republican sides. | ||
| The Democrat Party, the old Democrat Party, needs to wake up and realize that the so-called socialist Democrats that are running for office and in the Democratic Party right now are communists. | ||
| They do not want what's best for our country. | ||
| Say no to the globalist party. | ||
| All right, Nicole, Bill in Mesa, Arizona, Democratic caller. | ||
| Bill, it's your turn. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, instead of having a tax cut for the millionaires and the billionaires, and it's roughly about $308,000, they ought to raise the taxes here and it'd be solved. | |
| And then on Social Security, they ought to raise the cap on that. | ||
| Instead of cutting it off at $128,000, they ought to just take that cap off and then our Social Security will be funded. | ||
| Bill's thoughts in Arizona, Asheville, North Carolina. | ||
| Greg, an independent, what's your message to Washington on the government shutdown? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I believe that this is a Democrats' last resort to keep the ACA alive in Obamacare alive. | |
| This is just the beginning of undermining the whole health insurance plan. | ||
| And ultimately, they have to take advantage of this leverage because if they don't, the leverage swings to the Republican side and they'll have to either accept whatever they give into or not, and they'll start looking bad. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So it's a political situation we're in. | |
| Okay. | ||
| All right, Greg. | ||
| And as you know, Greg, the Affordable Care Act started under the Obama administration in his first term. | ||
| And the chief of staff at that point for the White House was Ram Emmanuel. | ||
| He is our guest in the premiere of C-SPAN's Ceasefire, which will take place this Friday at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Eastern. | ||
| It's a show-hosted weekly series hosted by Politico's Dasha Burns, bridging the political divide with respectful, substantive conversations across party lines. | ||
| And we're excited to announce the debut episode features former Vice President Mike Pence and former Chicago Mayor Rah Emanuel in a thoughtful dialogue on finding common ground and highlighting the essential work of governing across differences. | ||
| Plus, Dasha is joined by Sean Spicer, former White House press secretary under President Trump, and Faz Shakir, who's former campaign advisor and now senior advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders, to get their insider perspective on the week's top week's top political stories. | ||
| Ceasefire, 7 p.m., 10 p.m. Eastern on Fridays. | ||
| Charles in Maryland, Republican caller. | ||
| Hi, Charles. | ||
| What are your thoughts on the government shutdown? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I think it's legging layers right at the seat of Chuck Schumer. | |
| I also think to myself, why do we need to have two Democrats and Republicans? | ||
| Why can't they just all just do that or do away with that group? | ||
| There's two groups and just everybody wrote what they think is their conscience. | ||
| That way you do away with all this crap about Democrats and Republicans liking each other. | ||
| You have an independent group of people that just think of it and just go ahead and vote the way they think is right. | ||
| All right, Charles, Jeffrey, Hampton, Iowa, Democratic caller. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, ma'am. | |
| I'm on. | ||
| Yes, you are. | ||
| We're talking about the government shutdown, Jeffrey. | ||
| What are your thoughts? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, ma'am. | |
| Yes, ma'am. | ||
| He furlough people and they'll get paid once the shutdown is over. | ||
| Now, the people that he fire, do they get unemployment or will the president say, well, dereliction of duty so you don't get no unemployment? | ||
| All right, Jeff in Missouri, Republican. | ||
| Hi, Jeff. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hello. | |
| Jeff, welcome to the conversation here on C-SPAN. | ||
| Your message to Washington on the government shutdown. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, you know, if the Democrats hadn't let 16 million illegals in, we wouldn't be in this problem to begin with. | |
| Secondly, the Affordable Care Act should be called the Unaffordable Care Act because if they need tax subsidies for it to survive, that's ridiculous. | ||
| It's the Unaffordable Care Act, and if they fix it, period. | ||
| All right, Jeff in Missouri, and we will leave the conversation there for now. | ||
| Follow along with C-SPAN's coverage of the government shutdown on all of our networks as well as online at c-span.org, or you can download our free video mobile app. | ||
| We're going to take you to earlier in the day when House Speaker Mike Johnson held a news conference here on the sixth day of the government shutdown. | ||
| Well, good morning, everyone. | ||
| Here we are again in another day of Democrat shutdown. | ||
| So I wanted to come out and just share with you some thoughts, answer some questions, tell you, I guess reiterate the simple truths of how we got here. | ||
| Those truths have been obscured just a bit because the Democrats are in a relentless effort to spend the facts. | ||
| But it's always good when the facts and the evidence are on your side. | ||
| And I don't want you to listen to the arguments of politicians. | ||
| If you're watching at home, I want you to look at the real facts. | ||
| And I'm going to try to hear in a very abbreviated summary manner to present those to you. | ||
| And the facts are very clear. | ||
| Okay, so the first fact is, by way of reminder, how did we get here? | ||
| Why is Washington tied into a knot right now? | ||
| Well, I became Speaker almost two years ago, and I was frustrated, as most rank-and-file members of Congress are. | ||
| Frustrated about how Congress really doesn't work that well for the American people. | ||
| That's why people are frustrated about it. | ||
| We don't spend money responsibly here. | ||
| We haven't for many years. | ||
| And the reason for that is because typically, for the annual funding of the government, it's done in a back room. | ||
| Literally, there's a deal made by the top four leaders in Congress, and that's hoisted upon the members, usually at the end of the year, right before a holiday, in an omnibus spending bill. | ||
| Sometimes the bills are thousands of pages long, and it's always said that few members have fully read it or understood it. | ||
| That's largely true because they weren't involved in the process. | ||
| So when I became Speaker, I've been doggedly determined to make this House and the Senate work again, to do right by the American people, to get the process to rebuild the muscle memory, to get back to the way it is supposed to work. | ||
| And what does that mean? | ||
| It means that Congress is supposed to carefully deliberate over 12 separate appropriations bills every year. | ||
| Why? | ||
| Because we divide the spending of the taxpayers' funds into 12 categories so that everybody can go through that. | ||
| And all the elected members, the duly elected representatives of the people, can come here and have a debate and a discussion. |