The House Rules Committee voted to advance the Senate’s funding bill on Tuesday night. The legislation will be voted on by Congress on Wednesday, in hopes of ending the government shutdown, which will be in its 44th day. However, during the procedural voting process, which lasted into early Wednesday morning, Rep. Erin Houchin (R-IN) blasted Democrats for causing the shutdown, accusing them of playing political games and using the “American people as leverage.”
“So let’s just be very clear,” Houchin said. “Republicans in the House voted to fund the government 50 days ago. Democrats in the House voted to close the government. Republicans in the Senate voted 14 times to fund the government. Democrats in the Senate voted 14 times to keep it closed. All of the suffering that the American people have been enduring, discussed here tonight, falls only on one party, the Democrats.”
Shen called the Democrats’ actions since the shutdown began a “political stunt,” claiming they “gaslighted” people while bemoaning the harms experienced due to the stoppage. She questioned their motives, claiming that their overall objective was to give money to insurance companies.
“Democrats thought this political stunt would give them leverage,” Houchin said. “They used the American people as leverage, and for what? So big insurance companies can continue collecting big payouts.”
She cited the political drama regarding the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, known as WIC, as an example of Democratic malfeasance.
“Let’s discuss WIC, we had an amendment on WIC,” Houchin said. “President Trump made sure that this program was fully funded despite the Democrats turning off the funding for it. Democrats have lamented for hours about all the people hurting from the shutdown that they caused.”
“We’ve listened to Democrats talk about how healthcare is too expensive, due to a system they broke,” Houchin added. “Now they want the American people to believe they’re gaslighting, and hand even more money to big government and big insurance. But more money is not going to fix a broken program. Think about this. They shut down the government to fight for enhanced premium subsidies. Guess who gets those? Insurance companies. They shut down the government so insurance CEOs can benefit from record profits.”
Houchin then addressed the weaponization of federal agencies, which, Houchin claimed, targeted President Trump while he was a private citizen during former President Joe Biden’s term.
“Many of us agree that no agency of government should ever be used to intimidate or target members of Congress or the Senate,” she said. “But we also know that the harms inflicted on this institution, and on President Trump by the Biden Department of Justice, are so egregious they border on treason. The American people deserve confidence in the DOJ that it’s not weaponized against anyone, especially elected officials who have a constitutional duty to hold government accountable.”
Now I cannot answer today what the appropriate remedy is, but I do believe every citizen has a right to petition their government and seek a redress of grievances,” she added. “Here’s where we differ today. The American people have suffered long enough under a Democrat-led shutdown, and I’m not willing to keep our government closed while these issues are debated and decided in the House.”
DEMOCRATS WERE ALWAYS RESPONSIBLE FOR SHUTDOWN SUFFERING
Houchin then reiterated her intention to vote to reopen the government, but did emphasize she was willing to have bipartisan talks in the future to advance legislation regarding concerns over healthcare subsidies and other matters Democrats discussed during Tuesday night’s hearing.
“I will vote against the amendment and for the rule because people have suffered long enough under the Schumer shutdown,” she added. “I’m happy to discuss a stand-alone bipartisan bill to address this issue moving forward, but I won’t make this change today and continue to stall the process.”
“It’s time to reopen the government and end this shutdown,” Houchin concluded, before yielding her time.
