Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) blasted Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) on Monday for not “doing their jobs” during the government shutdown while they attended “No Kings” rallies last weekend.
House Democrats have spent the last 20 days calling out their Republican colleagues for being on “vacation,” as Johnson has kept the House in recess for over a month. In a Monday press conference, the speaker turned their messaging around, following the No Kings rallies that took place across the country in protest of the Trump administration.
“They’re either going to be celebrating with you, or they’re going to be calling for new leadership,” Johnson said.
“Now that’s a direct threat to Chuck Schumer, and he heard the message, so did Hakeem Jeffries in the House, and that’s why neither of them were here doing their jobs. Instead, they were out in New York and California,” he continued.
Both minority leaders attended the rallies that took place this weekend as the movement argues President Donald Trump is administering “absolute” power through gutting healthcare, sending Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to cities, and “rigging” election maps.
“I proudly marched side-by-side with labor unions and so many more of our fellow citizens in NYC,” Schumer wrote on X. “We have no dictators in America. And we won’t allow Trump to keep eroding our democracy.”
The rallies across the country were held as the third longest government shutdown in U.S. history continues, a mere two weeks shy of the longest on record.
“This is now the third longest shutdown in history,” Johnson said, “and when you when you look at it carefully, it is now already the longest full shutdown of all time. You had an example in 2018 and you had one back in 1995 that were longer, but they were partial shutdowns because they only affected a part of the federal government.”
House Democrats have held press conferences in Washington over the last 20 days, claiming they are at the Capitol “ready to work,” while Republicans are “vacationing” as the government remains shutdown.
RESTLESS HOUSE REPUBLICANS BEGIN TO DEFY JOHNSON’S SHUTDOWN RECESS
Leading lawmakers of both parties in the House and Senate have not met to negotiate since the end of last month, while the shutdown moves forward with no end in sight. The House-passed continuing resolution to fund the government through Nov. 21 sits in the upper chamber, where it has continuously failed to pass the 60-vote threshold.
Schumer has fought to keep enough of his Democratic caucus in line to force Republicans to strike a deal that meets Democratic demands on healthcare. So far, only Sen. Angus King (I-ME) and two Democrats have backed the GOP plan with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) looking to wear down the party by forcing continuous votes on the same short-term funding bill.
