House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-CA) on Two-Step Continuing Resolution

uh this morning uh we also had a family conversation about the continuing resolution uh and the path ahead Democrats have been very clear that we will not stand for cuts to vital programs we will not support uh these partisan pills and policy writers that seek to criminalize abortion care uh those are our red lines we still have concerns we're still evaluating The Proposal we have concerns about the bifurcated nature of this uh proposal um but we have not taken a family position on the bill and I think the concern is Speaker Johnson this is very similar to the position we had been before he is bleeding votes within his conference um he has put it on the suspension calendar there is no uh Prospect of him delivering the votes to achieve this success um to achieve uh the continuing resolution uh and so that is a position that we're in is a position we were in before uh when Democrats put a significant number of votes up to um ensure that the bill passed uh like to ask Vice chair Luke chair M has absolutely correct this CR doesn't have any spending cuts and it doesn't have any poison pill policy writers at the same time we're still evaluating it to see if we're going to support it or not and a decision has not yet been made hasn't a decision been made I mean you guys are voting on this today at 4:30 and as you said there's no spending cuts there's no poison pills that Democrats have identified so why not get behind it yeah look I think we're we're still hearing from Members we heard from uh chair of Appropriations Rosa Doo she's my chair I listen to her a lot um and there are concerns about uh the path forward and what the next 60 days would look like on the legislative calendar specifically within the Appropriations um process and so you know we do want to see what the path forward is on the full complement of those uh bills I think it's fair that we're still having conversations with members um we do plan to to communicate um before the vote but nothing is set right now what do you from Speaker John the sentiment in the room today did it seem like members were open to this or was it just simply too much to have this s of twep I think members are in listening mode and but I I do think it's fair that people are open to it if it would be we would be in a different position if the Senate um you know did some work and and sent us an alternative uh we don't have that before us we have a PO government shutdown uh later this week uh we also have members who have been here a long time uh as as have you a number of weeks in a row uh dealing with this Republican chaos uh and so I think all of that is is Wang on us and we want to make sure fun first and foremost that government gets funded uh that's Our obligation and responsibility uh we do not stand for for shutdowns and and showdowns that's just not who we are yeah so to answer your question funding government by continuing CRS is not a very good way of doing this it's not efficient it makes agencies lives very difficult and there's no Topline number still yet for how we're going to fund throughout the fiscal year so we urge Republicans to at least have some semblance of coherence and at least put out a Topline number that tracks with what McCarthy and Biden had already agreed to are asking for some kind of promise from speaker Johnson on providing a Topline number before or you guys say yes you're going to support this shortterm bill look we're we're right now we're just evaluating everything um I'm not having those discussions um but I think it's fair to say that you know our caucus still has questions about what that path ahead is uh they're marking up bills simultaneously from this continuing resolution they're pulling bills off of the house floor and they're marking up bills that have dramatic cuts to programs that we care about the labor Health bill on the floor uh today as well as the Commerce Justice science uh where they seek to you know cut hundreds of millions of dollars from the FBI and law enforcement budgets you know these are real cuts that affect our communities and so it's tough to square the continuing resolution with their desire to make uh continued cuts to programs were you surprised that speaker Johnson in this first you know effort to to fund the government in his first effort to fund the government is leaning so heavily on Democrats does that surprise you given how partisan his Israel bill was we were uh taken back at How uh his first um partisan bill that he put forward uh could have been a 400 vote uh success in delivering Aid to Israel he chose not to do that and to make it incredibly partisan but it doesn't surprise me that Democrats are going to have to play a role in providing votes um for success and to achieve a legislative success uh that was a story within the continuing resolution that was the story uh to avoid the catastrophic uh debt limit um Democrats stand ready ready to deliver that's just who we are uh and it's unfortunate that so many of our Republican colleagues you know come here and they don't want to govern Democratic votes enough Democratic votes to get this passed today uh we'll see in the next few hours we'll see but it's clear that you know the higher vote threshold is going to be a problem and uh you know we've seen the public reporting that um caucuses uh have come out against this within the on the Republican side uh and so I think that that poses a significant concern to the prospects of the bill thank you