LIVE: House Speaker Johnson, GOP Leadership Hold Press Conference (Oct. 23)

Well, good morning, everyone. Welcome to day 23 of the Democrat shutdown. And today you all know we have a special guest with us. We're delighted to welcome back to Congress, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy. I enjoyed serving with him in my first few years here, and we're grateful he's serving our country in this very important position right now in these very challenging times. He's a very busy guy, but he'll give us a few minutes to give you an update here in just a moment. You'll hear directly from him about the very real and consequential ways that Americans are suffering right now because of the shutdown. I just wanted to give you a brief update, and then I'll turn it over to the Secretary. By way of review, the reason that my colleagues and I have come in here every morning now during this painful Schumer shutdown is because we have to share the facts and we have to share the simple truth with the American people. And why is that? Because the Democrats are working overtime to try to hide those facts and to try to distract from the very simple truth here. They want you to forget that just five Senate Democrats could reopen the government today. All we need is five of them. They try to pretend that their counterproposal deal doesn't reinstate free healthcare for illegal aliens, $200 billion of taxpayer funds. They try to pretend that their counterproposal would not send billions of dollars in wasteful spending for social projects in foreign countries overseas. They don't want you to look at the facts. They don't want you to look at the paperwork that they themselves filed as the counterproposal. And they refuse to admit that this entire shutdown is one big political game to satisfy the radical Marxist base of their party. But that is exactly what is going on. And I want to be absolutely clear about this. Democrats would not have shut the government down this time if their political careers did not depend on it. And that is not some Republican talking point. That is the objective truth. If it wasn't already abundantly clear, the number two Democrat in the House yesterday openly admitted to that fact. Catherine Clark is the House Democrat whip. She works right under Hakeem Jeffries as the number one Democrat. And she was in an interview and she said to one of your colleagues sitting here on the front row, quote, of course there will be families that are going to suffer, but this is one of the few leverage times we have, unquote. It's shocking to hear them say that out loud. By her own admission, she knows that the American people are suffering. Democrats know that millions of federal workers are desperate for their paychecks. They know that thousands of flights have been delayed. They know that SNAP benefits and nutrition assistance for women, infants, and children are in jeopardy for millions of American families. And yet, they don't seem to care. But you know what? Take heart, America. Take heart. Because all your suffering is for a good cause. It's for the Democrats' political leverage. That's what the number two Democrat said here yesterday. It is utterly shameful. The obvious truth is that only a Democrat could get away with saying such abhorrent things without the media batting its eye. I guarantee you if the tables were turned, if the Republicans were the ones holding the country hostage and openly admitting to it, it would be absolutely explosive. It would be wall-to-wall coverage, and everybody in this room knows that. Every single mainstream media outlet, every newspaper in America, every single day would have that on the top fold as the big headline. But of course, that's not what's happening right now. Coverage of all this has been sporadic and almost every time spun to try to somehow favor the Democrats who have put us in this mess. Democrats own this. They have said so themselves, and you just have to listen to their own words. Don't listen to us. Chuck Schumer himself said infamously, every day of the shutdown gets better for us, meaning the Democrats. And then you had the Democrat whip here say yesterday, openly admitted they're holding the country hostage for their political leverage. They're perfectly fine with that. They're perfectly okay with real pain being felt by real Americans as long as it helps their political agenda as they see it, as long as they can force a trillion and a half new dollars in spending on America and get illegal aliens back on health care funded by U.S. citizens. That's their counterproposal, and largely so many in the media are turning a blind eye to that. Well, as I said earlier, we've stood up here every day and talked to you about some of the terribly harmful effects that the Democrat shutdown is causing on Americans. We talked about troops at risk of missing their next paycheck, the nutrition assistance for women, infants, and children is under threat. Now, SNAP benefits will not be sent to those who truly need it, but there's another very important group of federal employees that we want to highlight today because they also aren't getting paid and the consequences are being felt around the country. Air traffic controllers, some people call the policemen of our skies. They have been showing up at work without pay. And news reports have suggested that these men and women are seeking outside employment just to keep their families afloat. Some of them are working these long shifts and then they're hopping in a car and driving for Uber or they're delivering for DoorDash all night. And you just have to think about what a heavy thing that is. These men and women have one of the most stressful jobs in America. They cannot be 99.5% accurate or 99.9% accurate. They have to be 100% accurate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And now they're being forced to work longer hours, take on multiple jobs, and maintain the same level of excellence, again, all while Democrats hold their paychecks hostage. This is what one air traffic controller said in their own words in an article, quote, the financial anxiety doesn't just hurt morale, it directly affects safety. When someone responsible for thousands of lives a day is worrying about whether they can pay rent or feed their kids, focus suffers. Controllers were already underwater with pay and staffing before the shutdown, and now we're drowning, unquote. As a reminder, and this is pretty ominous, but you remember the article a few days ago where the Democrats were quoted saying they won't reopen the government unless, quote, planes are falling out of the sky, unquote. We pray to God it doesn't come to that, obviously. But the longer the shutdown goes on, and as fewer air traffic controllers show up to work, the safety of the American people is thrown further into jeopardy. Now, I'm heartened that we have a leader like Secretary Duffy. He has an extraordinary team. We have extraordinary air traffic controllers in this country, and they are maintaining the safety against incredible odds. But right now there are 13,000 air traffic controllers and more than 50,000 TSA officers who are showing up to work without pay. Our Secretary Duffy is doing a great job to triage this, but he noted that normally just 5% of flight delays are the result of staffing shortages. Right now that number, at least two days ago, was 53%. According to online flight tracking databases, there were 19,000 delayed flights from Saturday to Monday, and an additional 1,600 canceled flights during that same period. That number is only going to increase as the Democrat shutdown continues, especially as air traffic controllers are set to miss another paycheck on October 28. We're rounding into a holiday season, as we all know, and we're in the middle of the height of the football season. This is peak travel time for the U.S. Hundreds of thousands of Americans are going to travel to football games this weekend, for example, and if the current trajectory continues, many Americans could miss watching their favorite teams and reconnecting with friends and family. So football fans, hey, if you're stuck in the airport this weekend while your favorite team is about to kick off, you can blame the Democrats for that, all right? They own this shutdown, and they own the consequences, too. So now here to share this firsthand perspective of some of the ways the shutdown is stretching thin American air travel and all of our air infrastructure is our extraordinary Secretary Sean Duffy, and then after he speaks, you will hear from the Chairman of Transportation and Infrastructure, our committee here in the House, our good friend Sam Grace. Mr. Secretary, thank you so much for your time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First off, I want to thank the Republican leadership team and Republicans in the House for your votes to keep the government open, keep the government funded. Usually this is a House problem. It's in the Senate right now. The Senate can't find the votes to keep the government open, and it's Democrat votes. And I thought you made a really good point, Mr. Speaker, that I do think in the Democrat senators' hearts, they want to vote to open the government up. They don't want to hurt the American people. But we've seen they have a radical base, a base that's out of control. And if they vote to open up the government, what's going to happen is they are going to be primaried. They are going to be attacked. Maybe their funding might dry up. And so this shutdown is not about the American people, not about the pain that America experiences because of the shutdown. This is because Democrats are concerned about their own hide, and they've sold the country to the most radical element of their country. And I think that's really shameful. It's too bad. I also want to thank the Congress led by Sam Graves. Many of you have seen what's happened with our air traffic control system. It's old, it's antiquated, it's safe, but it has to be massively rebuilt. We need a new system. I want to thank the House for leading that effort. We've asked for $31.5 billion. We got a down payment of $12.5 billion to begin that really important work. Before the shutdown, we have crafted our teams in a way that can keep that work moving forward. It doesn't stop during the shutdown because, again, six months from now, you all won't care that Democrats shut the government down. You'll want to know what the results are and the progress of building this new system. That is still operational. I do want to talk about air traffic controllers for a moment because I think this is incredibly important. They're angry. I've gone to a number of different towers over the course of the last week to 10 days. They're frustrated. They're frustrated that the Congress is focused, at least in the Senate, on paying for healthcare benefits for illegals as opposed to paying their paychecks for the great work that they provide to the American people. That makes them angry. You've seen, as the Speaker mentioned, across the national airspace, there's certain centers or tracons or towers where we'll see a lower staffing. When we have lower staffing, what happens is you'll see delays or cancellations. But it's not one tower. It's not one tracon. It's not one center. It's maybe one center one day. It's a tracon another day. It's kind of moving throughout the national airspace. But it's causing disruptions. So a week ago, last Tuesday, air traffic controllers got 90% of their pay because that paycheck came from most of it for the work they did in September. So they got most of the money. Next Tuesday is the first paycheck that they will not receive for the work that they did in October. To the Speaker's point, we have air traffic controllers who work more than five days a week. They work six days a week to make sure they can cover air travel throughout the country. So if you have a controller that's working six days a week, but has to think about, how am I going to pay the mortgage? How am I going to make the car payment? How am I going to put food on my kids' table? They have to make choices. The choices they're making is to take a second job. Well, I don't want my air traffic controllers to take a second job. I want them to do one job. I don't want them delivering for DoorDash. I don't want them driving Uber. I want them coming to their facilities and controlling the airspace. But they're having to make decisions about how they spend their time to make sure they put food on their table, feed their kids, and support their family members. I want to make one other point really clear. Some have asked about safety. Or you maybe asked me if I'll let you give me some questions. Safety is paramount for us. And so if we don't have the staffing levels in a tower, tracon, or center, you'll see us delay traffic. You will see us cancel flights. Because I want you to get to where you're going. I want America to get to their destination and get there safely. And it's not moving as many flights as possible. It's moving as many flights as possible safely. That is our mission. That is our number one goal. And if we can't do that, you'll see the flights come down. You will see the delays. And you'll see the cancellations. One other problem that I want to address that we're seeing now in the shutdown. You've seen that we don't have enough air traffic controllers. We're 2,000 or 3,000 air traffic controllers short. And so what I've done is I've developed a plan to supercharge air traffic controllers into our system. The president said, bring in the best and the brightest, young men and women, to work in this space, which is what we've done. We've shortened the timeline from testing to get into our facility where we train our air traffic controllers in Oklahoma City. Shorten the timeline. Get the best and the brightest. The highest test scores come in first. And that's what we've done. It's going to be a multi-year process to make up the shortfall that we have in the system. But I'm getting word now from Oklahoma City where I have young air traffic controller students who are now telling me, what the hell am I doing? Why am I going to take this job? They're thinking about leaving the academy, smart young men and women, because they don't want to work for a system that won't pay them, that doesn't guarantee them a paycheck. And their paychecks are at risk. We pay those controllers as they go through the academy. Their own people, we don't pay them a lot of money either. They rely on that. And when that money doesn't come, it creates not just disruptions for when Democrats in the Senate decide to forego the crazy left and actually fight for America, that's problems that ricochet in the months and the years to come. And I think it's important that we tell that story, because if we don't, I think that you can give the Democrats a pass. We have to talk about the real consequences of what this shutdown does, talk about who we're fighting for and why this matters to, again, open up your government. Open it up. It's easy. And then sit down and negotiate, have a conversation. But to allow the radical element in the Senate to hold America hostage, I think would be shameful. That's not how we operate. We don't negotiate when that is the structure set by Democrats. So I'm all in favor of making sure this funding comes. Let's open it up. Let's have a great conversation. Let's figure out where we go forward. And I think that would be the most common sense approach. But I'll just tell you this. I want to reiterate, we are all about safety, and we will make sure we work every day on that part of our job. But again, I can't guarantee you that your flight's going to be on time. I can't guarantee you that your flight's not going to be canceled. It's going to depend on our air traffic controllers coming in to work every single day. And again, my message to them is, one, thank you for coming and working. We appreciate that. Come to work. Even if you don't get a paycheck, we need you to come to work. But if they do not, we'll know whose fault it is. And I just want to say, as I introduce Sam Graves, Sam has been a champion in the airspace. The industry loves him. No one has done more to drive this reform of how we build a brand new air traffic control system, thinking it through, driving it through the Congress, making the sales pitch than Sam Graves. And I couldn't be more grateful for his friendship and partnership. And so I think Sam is going to go right now. And again, I appreciate the leadership team here as well. Even guys from Minnesota are OK, too. So thank you. Thanks, Mr. Secretary. As chairman of the Transportation Committee, I do want to point out what has already been pointed out, and that is our skies are safe. They are very safe for folks to travel and for folks to be able to get to where they need to go. And I do want to commend our air traffic controllers straight up. And this just goes to show you just how steadfast they are. They're showing up for work. They're doing the job. And they're making sure that our skies stay safe. I've got a number of good friends who are air traffic controllers. And they have expressed extreme frustration because of this situation. They're worried about getting paid. They're worried about, as was pointed out, meeting that mortgage and being able to make the car payment or whatever the payment is that they have to do or take care of their family. Something as simple as that. I do want to commend the secretary and the president for filling all of the open seats at the academy in Oklahoma City. They hit their quota of 2,000 new air traffic control students that are learning. And I want to commend them on increasing the pay for students going to the academy. It's needed. And it's also needed to be able to attract the best and the brightest that are out there. As the speaker pointed out, this is political gamesmanship on Senator Schumer's part. And it's unfortunate that he's weaponizing the air traffic controllers and he's weaponizing families as we go into the holiday season when it comes to those delays that will ultimately probably happen and the cancellations that are probably going to happen. And as the secretary pointed out, we need to remember who it is that is causing this and why they are causing this. This is political games. All we need to do is pass the clean CR so we can move forward and then talk about these things that need to be talked about. Thank you, Sam. I appreciate the job that our chairman of the transportation committee is doing. Really appreciate the job that our secretary of transportation, Secretary Duffy, has been doing. And especially want to thank those air traffic controllers who are showing up to work. Work that even in normal times is an incredibly stressful job. As you can imagine, at any airport in America, but especially the busy ones, you might have dozens of flights coming in and out every single hour. And their job is to manage those flights so that everybody on those planes lands or takes off safely and gets to their destination safely. That's their job. That's their priority. It's their passion. And yet, when you add to that, again, in normal times, an incredibly stressful job. When you add to that the uncertainty of whether or not they're even going to get paid, while they still have the obligations of paying their house note, their rent, their car note, putting food on the table, adding that extra level of stress to an already stressful job is really straining the system. And so, as Secretary Duffy talked about, some have taken to get second jobs. Jobs that take them away from their current job. It's led to flight delays. It's led to real hardships for American families. As we're approaching Easter, Thanksgiving, in just a couple of weeks, imagine you're planning your Thanksgiving vacation to go see your family somewhere else. Maybe a kid returning from college to go see their family for the first time in a few months, and you don't know if the flight is going to be scheduled, if the flight's going to be on time, if you're going to be able to make it home. This is unnecessary. And people are starting more and more to ask the question, why is this going on? Why do Democrats continue to vote no? Not on a bill that solves all of our differences, a bill that just keeps the government running, puts the food on the table of those air traffic controllers while we negotiate our differences. That's all we're talking about, a clean CR bill that just lets us keep the government running while we still negotiate the big differences we have. And more and more over the last few weeks, you've heard Democrat senators say it out loud while they're casting no vote after no vote after no vote, hundreds of times, by the way, over 600 times Democrats in Washington have voted to shut the government down. Think about that. Over 600 times between the House vote, the Senate votes over and over again as if it's just some repetition. All it takes is five Democrat senators to have the courage to say, let's just open the government back up again so we can negotiate our differences. But they're starting to say publicly what we've said out here, what they've been saying privately, is they're scared to death of their far left radical base. That's why the Democrats didn't. It has nothing to do with policy differences. That's what we can negotiate when the government's open, and everybody knows that. And so why are they doing it? And here we go. And you heard the speaker talk about it, but you had the House minority whip, quote, shutdowns are terrible. Of course, there will be families that are going to suffer, but it is one of the few leverage times we have. Leverage, yeah, sure, they're okay with people suffering, but boy, does it give them leverage. For what? To appease their radical base, to show their radical base they're fighting Donald Trump. So they've made the calculation it's okay to cause suffering to families. Schumer, of course, quote, every day gets better for us. Who's us? It sure isn't the American people. It sure isn't those air traffic controllers who are working six highly stressful days managing, say, their air traffic control system, while then they leave that job to go drive for Uber or for DoorDash. That's not a better day for them, but boy, Chuck Schumer's happy. Bernie Sanders, quote, you reopen the government and we lose our leverage. That's what this whole shutdown is about, close quote. That's Bernie, leverage. You hear it over and over again. The American people, especially federal workers, are considered by Democrats to be leveraged, to be pawns in their game. Senator Coons, quote, the point of this shutdown is not just suffering for suffering's sake, but to make a point. What point? A point that you can cause suffering on other people so you can get leverage to go back home to Los Angeles or San Francisco or New York City and show the socialists, look at me, I've made Donald Trump have to go and move some money around to figure out a way to pay federal employees. I'm creating chaos in Washington. That's what they want to do. That's their leverage so they can get some pat on the back from socialists and Marxists who want chaos in America. It's disgraceful, and everybody knows it, but they don't care. They don't care because as long as there are peas in the radical base, that's what their leverage is all about. The American people to Democrats are considered pawns for leverage to go and make the far left radical base look like they're fighting Donald Trump. And I'm going to finish with this. Air traffic controllers, again, as Secretary Duffy, as Chairman Graves have talked about, right now 13,000 air traffic controllers are working without pay, 13,000. Some of our air traffic controllers who work six days a week are, you've heard it, driving Uber, doing all these other things. Nick Daniels, the president of the Air Traffic Controllers Association said, quote, to think that somehow we can live with, you'll get paid eventually, that doesn't pay the controllers. That doesn't pay the mortgage. That doesn't pay gas. That doesn't pay the food bill. That's the burden. That's the burden, those 13,000 air traffic controllers whose job every day is to keep us safe when we fly on airplanes is, and why do they have that extra stress? Why do they have that extra burden? So that Senate Democrats can feel like they've got leverage over who, over what, to what end? This is madness. There is no end for them. They just think this is some kind of game and the American people are pawns in that game. It's got to end. Our whip, Tom Emmer. Shutdowns are terrible. Of course, there will be families that are going to suffer. We take that responsibility seriously, but it is one of the few leverage times we have. You've heard that three times now. A direct quote from the number two Democrat in the House, Catherine Clark. Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, which is Catherine Clark's home state, 45,000 federal workers are being forced to figure out how they're going to pay their bills next week. More than 1 million SNAP enrollees and 123,000 women, infant and children who require nutritional assistance. They're going to be impacted, Catherine. Telehealth services and a home hospital program have been put on pause. Tens of thousands of travelers who come through Massachusetts airports are at risk of experiencing flight cancellations and delays. If you, as you heard from the secretary this morning, obviously we can go on and on about the ways people in whip Clark's home state and across the country are being forced to suffer because the Democrats refuse to reopen the government, but they don't care because to them, suffering is leverage to them. This is one big political game. It doesn't matter that millions of Americans are hurting because as Chuck Schumer says, every day gets better for us. What a disgusting, despicable mentality to have. The truth of the matter is Democrats could end their shutdown madness today. If they would simply do their jobs, all they have to do is stop playing politics, pass our clean CR and reopen the government for the people they were elected to serve. We're going to continue giving them opportunities to do the right and reasonable thing. The question is not whether they are able. The question is whether they are willing. I hope they come to their senses soon, but until then we're going to hold them to account. And we expect everyone in this room to do the same. Lisa McClain. Thank you. And thank you, Sam, for being here today. And thanks secretary Duffy for being here as well to talk about the reality of the air traffic controllers and the American people. The American people deserve the truth. Republicans are out there serving the American people while Democrats are using suffering of the American people as leverage. And let me say that again, because I believe it is warranted. Republicans serve. Democrats use. And you don't have to take my word for it. I know you've heard it, but I need to say it again, because I was on a news station this morning and when they played Catherine Clark's comments, they're like, the question to me was, why are Republicans so upset about it? Why are Republicans upset about it? Everybody should be upset about it. I mean, this is what she said. The second highest ranking Democrat in Congress. This is what she said yesterday. Congresswoman Clark admitted, and I quote, of course there will be families that are going to suffer. But it's one of the few leverage times we have. Let that sink in for one moment. They are admitting, she is admitting, yes, American families are going to suffer. But we got to use you as leverage. Let that sink in. Does that not outrage anybody? I'll tell you who it does outrage. The American families that are actually suffering. So let me share this with you. And what I need you to ask them is, what are they suffering for? So what are the Democrats using the American people suffering for? What leverage are they using that for? Well, let me tell you. To put their $1.5 trillion in wasteful spending. To fund health care for illegals. The Democrats think it's right for the American people to suffer so that we can deliver Sesame Street to Iraq. Sesame Street in Iraq? Democrats, Catherine, yeah. She thinks that's all right to have the American people suffer for that. Someone connect those dots for me. I mean, seriously. I hope to God you are asking her why. Because the questions that I get is, why do you think that's bad? Are you kidding me? I mean, we have lost our minds. They've lost their minds. It's disgusting and it's insulting, right? They want to bankroll LGBTQ propaganda in South America on the backs of American suffering. Again, let that one sink in. And you know what? That does make me angry. It does make me angry. And it should make all of you angry, too. Democrats are squeezing working families just to bankroll their pet projects. Good job of leveraging suffraging, suffering on the American family. Meanwhile, Republicans are doing what we always do. We're rolling up our sleeves and we're doing the work. Let me give you some examples. Congressman Zach Nunn met with rural health care providers and first responders, right? Remember, the Democrats are the ones that want to repeal that $50 billion for rural health care, right? They talk out of both sides of the mouth. So concerned about health care, but let's repeal the $50 billion back. Okay. Congressman Bilirakis met with troops working without pay and veterans struggling to access services. Dozens of Republicans are back home cleaning up parks, volunteering at food banks, and helping struggling families. The contrast couldn't be more clear. Democrats see suffering as leverage. Republicans see it as a call to serve. So here's my message to Democrats. Stop holding the American people hostage. Stop being okay with Americans' families suffering. Stop playing games. Open up the government. Get back to work and get back to work to serving the people who actually elected you to do your job. Thank you. All right. A few questions. Manu, go ahead. You said yesterday you were still trying to get the details of this $230 million. Now that you've had some time left to get the details, are you okay with taxpayers potentially being on the hook for that kind of money? I'm not trying to dodge the question. I haven't had time to get the details. Okay. That's still on my list of things to do list. Yesterday was almost literally a 21-hour workday. Yes, sir. Back row. Well, let me answer the questions in reverse order. We did work with the White House to get air traffic controllers paid. It's called a clean CR. We passed it in the House September 19th. By my count, it's 33 days ago. Yep. Yes. They're trying to find—the White House has bent over backwards to mitigate the harms to the American people. We got WIC funded by a bootstrap in a 1930s-era statute regarding tariff revenue. He found unobligated funds in the R&D accounts at DOD to get the troops paid in the middle of October. But we're running out of resources. They're running out of creative ideas. And there is not an existing pot of money that could cover the air traffic controllers' salaries right now. And so that is why we have to get the government reopened. Again, every Republican has voted repeatedly to do that very thing, to pay everyone and make all this madness stop. And the Democrats have now voted 13 times to keep the government closed. With regard to your first question, there will be a measure on the Senate floor today that Leader Thune and the Republicans are desperately trying to make sure that all these people are covered. They want all essential workers in all these categories to actually get their paycheck, even if the Democrats keep the government shut down. We are told that the Democrats have vowed to vote no on that measure. So they will not vote today. That's what we understand to be the case. They will vote against restoring paychecks to troops, Border Patrol agents, air traffic controllers, TSA agents, and all the rest. And it's uncautionable to us. But again, it's another step in their political game, is they're using all of these people, hardworking Americans and their families, as leverage for their political purposes to cover their own tails with a radical left. Chad? If it's so important to clear the air traffic, you said, why would you come back right now and say we're going to have it? Because you know what the bill is about. Well, no, I don't know that. We just demonstrated it's not true, Chad. We passed the CR to get everybody paid. If I brought everybody back right now and we voted on a measure to do this, to pay essential workers, it would be spiked in the Senate. They're going to show you this afternoon that they would spike that bill. So it would be a waste of our time, and it would take the pressure off Chuck Schumer to get his job done and open the government again. This is what's so infuriating to us. Yes, sir? You said yesterday that this needs to be appropriated. Well, look, we do assess it day by day, hour by hour, because if you remember, the original CR was going to extend and allow seven additional weeks for us to finish the appropriations process to November 21. Well, now they've eaten up, you know, the month of October, and we're getting closer and closer to that deadline. And so it is something that we take into account. It's a day by day evaluation. I will tell you that appropriators are working right now, even though we're not on the House floor and they're preparing the next batch of bills, and there's discussions going on at the leadership level and, you know, among appropriators across chambers and across the aisle, because they're serious people that understand we have to do serious work. And so we continue to evaluate it. But our plea today is to the Democrats. Please, five centrists in the Senate, do the right thing. You know what the right thing is. Play the tape. You can find a floor speech or media interview with every single Democrat in the Senate. Every single one of them have given impassioned speeches. We could come up here in lieu of a press conference and show you their own words, where they say that this should never happen, that it would be harmful to the country and harmful to people, and now they're saying they don't care? They know better. They know in their hearts this is wrong, and we're asking them to stop it. Louisiana and a lot of them, reportedly, stand alone or not? If the Senate passes the bill, then the House will address that. I've talked to my governor, Governor Jeff Landry in Louisiana, who greatly laments we have lots of SNAP recipients in our state, as we do in many others. And you're talking about, I think it's 42 or 43 million Americans rely upon that vital service, and it's unconscionable that they would be held at bay and held as leverage on this. That's the pain that Chad Perkham asked Whip Clark yesterday, the pain that American families would suffer, and she said, yeah, you know, it's regrettable, but hey, this is our time of leverage. We just let their own words speak for themselves. We're not for that. The Democrats are. I'll leave you with this thought. Republicans have now voted 13 times to open your government. The Democrats have voted 13 times to close it. The Democrats own this shutdown and all these horrible consequences, and you need to remind them of that. Thank you.