Florida Parish News

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) criticized Senate Democrats during an appearance on Fox News' The Faulkner Focus, accusing them of causing a government shutdown due to their demands for taxpayer-funded health care for undocumented immigrants. Scalise said that this situation is having negative effects on American families and called for Senate Democrats to join Republicans in passing a short-term funding bill.

Scalise argued that Democrats are facing political pressure as the public becomes aware of the reasons behind the shutdown. He stated, “I think what you're seeing is Democrats are starting to feel real political pressure that the American people figured out why Chuck Schumer shut the government down. It's not over some nebulous issues. It's over trying to get health care, free, taxpayer-funded health care for illegals. That's why Chuck Schumer shut the government down. They filed it in their alternative bill. Look, the Speaker pointed it out. Stephanopoulos was reading from Democrat talking points which were just false. They filed a bill, the Democrats did, to get rid of all the verifications that President Trump put in place. President Trump has been very clear: We're going to secure the border, but we also are going to protect taxpayer money for hard-working families, not to give that money away to people here illegally. We put that in our bill. Chuck Schumer wants to reverse that and give taxpayer-funded benefits to illegals, and he shut the government down to do it. It's insane.”

He also highlighted how the shutdown impacts Americans: “Well, clearly, Chuck Schumer doesn't care right now about the American people. He's trying to appease the most far-left radical elements of his base, and he's doing it over things like troop pay. There are real consequences to American families during a government shutdown. Military troops who are out there defending our freedoms will not get paid during a shutdown. Closings on homes in most American cities are canceled today if you need flood insurance, for example. That program is shut down right now while Chuck Schumer shut the government down. Those are things affecting real families. I mean, so many other things that are real that Chuck Schumer doesn't seem to care about because he's fighting to get health care for illegals at the expense of taxpayers.”

Scalise called attention to recent discussions at the White House involving President Trump and congressional leaders regarding a temporary funding measure: “Look, President Trump brought the leaders into the White House just a few days ago, Chuck Schumer, Speaker Johnson, all the leaders, and he made it very clear, look, we'll negotiate over how to properly fund the whole United States government, but we're not going to do it while Chuck Schumer is holding people hostage. Let's have this short-term funding bill go through so it buys us just until November 21st. This isn't a long-term solution, but let's at least free up the American people, get the government back open again until November 21st while we negotiate our differences."

He continued by urging Democratic senators: “The American people see what their priorities are. They literally want to shut the government down to fund $200 billion of taxpayer money for illegal health care. That's why Chuck Schumer is shutting the government down... Five Democrat senators need to reverse course and vote today to open up again...”

Steve Scalise represents Louisiana’s 1st district in Congress and has served since 2008 after succeeding Bobby Jindal (https://www.congress.gov/member/steve-scalise/S001176). Before his time in Congress he served in both chambers of Louisiana's state legislature (https://scalise.house.gov/about/full-biography). Born in New Orleans in 1965 and currently residing in Jefferson Parish (https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/S001176), Scalise holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Louisiana State University.