Florida Parish News

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) spoke in Washington, D.C. alongside Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), and House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost (R-Ill.) about the ongoing government shutdown and its effects on Americans. Scalise criticized Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats, calling for an end to what he described as unnecessary suffering caused by the shutdown.

Scalise addressed the impact of the shutdown, saying: “It just shows you the real cost of a government shutdown that Chuck Schumer has imposed on the country. We hear over and over these stories, and we're hearing more of them every day now that we're in the [ninth] day of this shutdown, the pain that is being inflicted on real people. I did a town hall meeting last night with thousands of people on the call, and a number of people talked about the problems they're experiencing, seniors that want to make sure their social security checks are going to be delivered. Obviously, families of military personnel, we know those stories. We hear those stories. And what does Chuck Schumer say? I read you the quote yesterday of a senator just a few days ago who said, ‘The point of this shutdown is not just suffering for suffering's sake, but to make a point.’ That was a different senator. Then yesterday, Chuck Schumer, of course, says, ‘Every day this gets better for us.’ You've got to ask yourself, if you're Chuck Schumer and a good day for you is defined by how much suffering you can impose on other people, including our men and women in uniform, maybe you need to look in the mirror and check yourself at the door and wonder what it is you're up here trying to accomplish.

“Is that really why Chuck Schumer ran for office? To inflict pain on other people so that he can have a good day, a better day for himself? When that is your measuring stick for a good day is how much pain you're inflicting on other American families, you have lost your way. And yet they vote over and over again to keep the government shut down while trying to talk about other issues. We can be talking about those other issues without inflicting pain on people. We can be debating our differences, as President Trump said he wants to do, by opening the government back up again. And by the way, once we get the government back open again, if Democrats ever come to their senses, we still have a lot of differences to resolve. Those differences don't just get resolved tomorrow. November 21st gets closer every single day, too. And then they're going to try to hold the American people hostage again on that deadline for some other unrelated issue so that they can inflict more pain on the American people. But don't worry, Chuck Schumer will be having a good day if that pain is going to be inflicted on others.”

Scalise further commented on what he views as Democrats’ inability to move past opposition to former President Trump: “Every day they wake up and they just want to fight Donald Trump. It doesn't matter what it is he wants to do. He wants to keep communities safe. They're going to fight him on it. He wants to keep the government open. They're going to fight him on it. President Trump wants to make sure our troops are paid. Chuck Schumer wants to fight him on it and talk about how good of a day it is for Chuck Schumer when that happens.”

He urged Senate Democrats: “Their party has lost their way, and it's not too late to come back. There will be other votes. Hopefully we get five more Democrat senators that come to their senses and stop inflicting this pain on the American people. It's causing real, real harm on families. Hopefully they stop worrying about what that measuring stick is that says they have a good day only when the American people are having a bad day. Stop inflicting pain on the American people, Chuck Schumer, and open the government up. End this madness.”

Scalise also spoke positively about President Trump’s actions both domestically and internationally: “Thank goodness we have a President in the Oval Office who continues to stay focused on the job he was elected to do by the American people. Speaker Johnson just pointed out how critically important that job President Trump is doing. As we marked the two-year anniversary of the horrible Hamas attacks on Israel, President Trump is brokering a release of all the remaining hostages so that those families can finally get closure. Hopefully some are still alive. We know sadly some are not.” He added: “But those families want to have that resolved...President Trump has worked tirelessly – he said he would work tirelessly – and he continues to deliver for the American people.”

Steve Scalise has represented Louisiana’s 1st district in Congress since 2008 after succeeding Bobby Jindal; prior roles included service in both chambers of Louisiana’s legislature from 1996 until his election at federal level in 2008.

Scalise was born in New Orleans in 1965 and lives in Jefferson Parish; he earned his bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University.