House Speaker Mike Johnson revealed on Tuesday that Democrats are demanding billions in wasteful and ideological spending, including $3.9 million for LGBTQI+ democracy grants in the Western Balkans, as part of their conditions to reopen the government.
Speaking on the 14th day of what he called the Democrat government shutdown, Johnson said the American people are suffering because Democrats have chosen politics over responsibility.
“Welcome to day 14 of the Democrat government shutdown,” Johnson said during his press briefing. “It’s two weeks of Democrats in Congress inflicting untold pain on the American people for nothing other than pure politics.”
Johnson explained that House Republicans had already offered a clean continuing resolution to keep the government funded, but Democrats repeatedly rejected it.
Instead, he said, Democrats are tying unrelated left-wing priorities to essential government operations in an attempt to strong-arm Republicans into approving radical spending measures.
He accused Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of catering to what he described as the party’s “Marxist base.”
The Speaker laid out details from the Democrats’ counterproposal, calling it a $1.5 trillion wish list of reckless spending that would send taxpayer money to liberal causes and foreign projects that have nothing to do with running the U.S. government.
Among the examples he cited were $24.6 million for climate resilience programs in Honduras.
Another $13.4 million would go to civic engagement programs in Zimbabwe.
An additional $2.9 million is earmarked for desert locust risk reduction in the Horn of Africa.The Democrats’ plan also calls for $2 million to fund “organizing for feminist democratic principles” in Africa, according to Johnson.
Johnson highlighted the $3.9 million in LGBTQI+ democracy grants for the Western Balkans as an example of Democrats’ misplaced priorities.
“They want to spend 3.9 million of your hard-earned dollars for LGBTQI+ democracy grants in the Western Balkans,” Johnson said. “We are not doing that.”
He argued that Democrats are also trying to undo common-sense reforms enacted by Republicans that prevent illegal immigrants from accessing taxpayer-funded healthcare.
“This is a fact,” he said. “They would add illegal aliens and non-citizens back to taxpayer-funded benefits. It would cost taxpayers nearly $200 billion.”
Johnson further warned that Democrats want to roll back modest work requirements placed on able-bodied young men without dependents.
At the same time, Democrats are pushing to make COVID-era Obamacare subsidies permanent, with no income limits or meaningful reforms.
Johnson said this approach would not only punish working Americans but also reward dependency and mismanagement.
The Speaker accused Democrats of prioritizing ideological projects over the immediate needs of the American people.
He said their proposal exposes how out of touch the party has become, highlighting spending for causes abroad while Americans face uncertainty at home.
“This is not about keeping the lights on,” Johnson said. “This is about Democrats trying to use the shutdown as leverage to fund their far-left agenda.”
Johnson reminded reporters that Republicans have already passed legislation to reopen the government responsibly, without any of the unrelated political riders Democrats insist on including.
The Republican plan, he said, would maintain government operations, protect taxpayers, and prevent wasteful spending abroad.
Johnson also pointed out that the Democrats’ proposal would restore funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, sending a half-billion dollars to what he described as liberal media outlets that have long benefited from taxpayer subsidies.
He described it as another example of Democrats using government funding to reward their political allies rather than serving the public good.
“These are not the priorities of the American people,” Johnson said firmly. “They are the priorities of a radical political class that has forgotten who they work for.”
The Speaker ended his remarks by calling on Democrats to stop the political games and join Republicans in reopening the government immediately.
“We have a clean bill ready to go,” he said. “It keeps the government open, pays our troops, secures the border, and protects hardworking taxpayers. Democrats need to stop holding America hostage.”
Johnson’s comments reflect growing frustration among House Republicans who say Democrats are using the shutdown to push through spending on social experiments, foreign projects, and activist groups under the guise of government funding.
He warned that such spending will only deepen America’s fiscal crisis and fuel public anger toward Washington’s political class.
“This is a moment for leadership,” Johnson concluded. “It’s time to put the American people first and end this shutdown—not by giving in to woke demands, but by standing firm for fiscal sanity and common sense.”
Hakeem Jeffries FREAKS OUT when Kailtin Collins plays a video EXPOSING his BS Lies about SHUTDOWN
HAKEEM JEFFRIES FREAKS OUT: CNN’s Kaitlan Collins EXPOSES Democrat Shutdown Hypocrisy with Video Clip
WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) was visibly rattled during a live television interview when CNN host Kaitlan Collins confronted him with a video clip of his past statements criticizing a government shutdown, highlighting what critics have long argued is the Democratic Party’s profound hypocrisy on fiscal and political maneuvering.
The confrontation occurred as Congress faced an imminent deadline to avert a government shutdown, placing pressure on both parties but particularly exposing the ideological shifts within Democratic leadership.
THE HYPOCRISY EXPOSED: JEFFRIES’ PAST VS. PRESENT
Kaitlan Collins introduced the segment by playing a video of Jeffries’ strong condemnation of the 2013 government shutdown, which was orchestrated by Republicans.
The 2013 Condemnation
In the archival footage, Jeffries is heard delivering a passionate speech, using harsh language to criticize the Republican actions:
“We’re in the midst of a government shutdown right now that is unnecessarily forcing pain on the American people. It’s a shutdown that was manufactured by the House GOP that has resulted in a situation where Americans all across this country have now been put in jeopardy. That’s a tragedy of epic proportions.”
The Seamless Pivot
Collins then asked Jeffries of today to comment on the Jeffries of 2013, specifically asking why he would not now support a “clean Continuing Resolution (CR)” to allow Congress to reopen the government.
Jeffries, maintaining composure, attempted to spin his current stance to align with his past statement, arguing that the Democrats were ready to negotiate and end the shutdown:
“Well, the Hakeem Jeffries of today definitively agrees with the Hakeem Jeffries of yesterday from the standpoint of, listen, we’ve said to Republicans, get to the negotiating table. We want to find a bipartisan path forward. We want to reopen the government.”
However, Jeffries quickly shifted into attacking President Trump and Republicans, using the lack of negotiations as an excuse for the ongoing stalemate, a move critics argue is designed to obscure the Democrats’ own role in using the shutdown as leverage.
THE BLAME GAME AND CONFLICTING NARRATIVES
Jeffries’ defense strategy relied heavily on aggressive deflection and highly charged, unverified accusations directed at Republicans.
1. Accusing Trump of Foreign Collusion
Jeffries made an extraordinary and unsubstantiated claim regarding the former President’s actions:
“Donald Trump over the last 29 days has spent more time talking to Hamas and to the Chinese Communist Party than to Democrats on Capitol Hill who represent half the country.”
This move, which critics quickly labeled as a desperate and baseless attempt to smear Trump, is reflective of the progressive strategy of relying on sensational, emotional accusations rather than verifiable facts in political arguments.
2. Weaponizing Essential Services
The broader political context of the confrontation centers on the Democratic Party’s strategy to weaponize the shutdown’s effects on vulnerable populations.
EBT/SNAP Benefits: The report highlights the looming crisis of 42 million Americans potentially losing their EBT and SNAP benefits (food stamps). Critics argue that Democrats are deliberately letting the shutdown continue under the Trump administration in order to manufacture chaos and blame the negative social fallout entirely on Republicans, a move labeled as cynical and politically motivated.
Refusing Accountability: Jeffries’ reluctance to answer whether he would “defer his paycheck” during the shutdown, as many federal workers were going without pay, further exposed the disconnect between political leadership and the citizens they claim to represent.
THE WIDER POLITICAL MANEUVERING
The current shutdown is seen by Republicans as a deliberate political stunt orchestrated by Democratic leadership to save their own political careers from the far-left wing of the party.
1. The Schumer Scenario
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is specifically cited for having previously voted for a “clean CR” but reversing his stance due to pressure from the far-left:
The Political Stunt: After facing an “onslaught of criticism from the far-left base” for voting to fund the government, Schumer allegedly concocted a plan to vote against the next funding measure “to show a fight to President Trump so he could save his political skin.”The Consequences: This political maneuver, driven by self-preservation, is argued to have brought the Democratic Party to its “lowest point in decades” in approval ratings.
2. The Inmate’s Asylum
The entire crisis is framed as the “inmates running the asylum,” with Democratic leadership losing control to the radical wing of their party, led by figures like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. This fear of the radical base, rather than sound policy, is seen as prolonging the government shutdown.
The confrontation with Kaitlan Collins serves as a powerful illustration of the current political environment, where ideological purity and self-preservation often trump principled governance.
Would you like more details on the potential consequences for the 42 million Americans relying on SNAP benefits if the shutdown is prolonged?