政府停擺第37天 眾議院共和黨高層舉行記者會

Good morning everyone, joining us this morning for the latest updates we have some members of the Republican Governance Group, one of our most active caucuses in the Republican side. I think she had a flight delay. But they've been out in their districts working very hard to help their constituents navigate through the chaos that's been created by the Democrat shutdown. And if you're keeping count, this is day 37. It seems unbelievable to us that we've gone this long. It is officially and shamefully the longest shutdown in US history. Republicans feel very helpless about the situation because as we've noted, there is really nothing for us to negotiate. We sent them a clean CR. As you know, back in September, September 19th, we passed it out of the House. It feels like a lifetime ago. But that was a nonpartisan measure. It was 24 pages in length. It has no Republican priorities on it at all. It was merely the status quo to keep the lights on so that the members of Congress, the Republican and Democrat party could work together to finish the government funding appropriations process. And the Democrats tried to turn that into a game. Now, we're going to give you the latest updates on that and where we think this is headed. But I just first want to address in a bit more detail the current state of our politics. It has been very interesting to us to see all the pundits trying to spin the results of the election on Tuesday. I just want to point out some simple facts here. And as usual, I try to be concise and give you the highlights here. But there's some things that we really need to point out. First, there were no surprises on Tuesday night. You had blue states and blue cities that voted blue to the alarm of no one, to the surprise of no one. That was what was expected. It just so happened that New York and New Jersey and Virginia were the states that were in the national spotlight on Tuesday. If the tables had been turned and if the calendar had been different and you had three red states, we'd have an entirely different narrative that you all would be writing about. Don't lose the simple facts. Second, the big headline that everyone is writing about appropriately is that the future of the Democrats was set in New York City. A 34-year-old Marxist is now the leader of the Democratic Party. It is a very dangerous road for them to go down. I want to say this because a lot has been said about the Mamdani campaign. It is very easy to run and win as a socialist, right? All you do is promise everything to everyone for free. What a great message that is. That really resonates for people who don't study history. And while you're making all those promises, you just hope that they never realize the trap that you're actually setting, the impossibility of fulfilling your fantastical claims and dreams, and the extreme danger and chaos that would result if you ever could. When you run as a socialist, you have to hope that they never understand that this will lead to the inevitable loss of their freedom, their opportunity and their security, the loss of meritocracy and fairness in society, the loss of color blindness and the loss of emphasis on character, and the morality and the personal incentive and the common sense that we rely upon to keep a republic in operation. If you run as a socialist, you run on a big list of false claims. You promise everything to everyone and you can't deliver, and if you were ever able to deliver, it would be to the great detriment of the very people that you lured in to vote for you. Third fact about the election on Tuesday night is that the Democrats, and you all are not writing about this and you should be, not writing enough about it, the Democrats have now set themselves on a collision course in their own tent. If you look at Spanberger in Virginia and Sherrill in New Jersey, they tried to run as moderate pragmatists, that's how they self-described, but they will be no match for the coming communist wave taking over their party right now. The energy is on the side of the Marxists. Look no further than the top two Democrats here in Congress. We've noted this here every day. They had to bend the knee to the socialists. Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer are both from New York. The top Democrat leader in the House and the top Democrat leader in the Senate, they couldn't get around that. And so Hakeem had to ultimately embrace it. He had to give the full blessing to Mondani and his agenda, and he co-owns it. And Chuck Schumer flirted with it. He pandered all along. He flirted with that open endorsement to the better end, even though Mondani is an activist against Israel and an anti-Semite. Chuck Schumer is the highest-ranked Jewish official in America, and even he couldn't bring himself to disclaim that. And as we've noted here every day, the sole reason for the entire federal government being shut down now, the sole reason for all the American people suffering all this pain and hardship is because of the fear of political retribution from the far-left activists who run the Democrat Party. That is the motivation for the shutdown. It's never been about any policy issue at all. It was only so that they could show a fight and try to show that they're tough to this rising far-left activist base in the party. The old guard has been repudiated, and the radicals are taking over the Democratic Party. We have evidence now every day. Yesterday,Jared Golden announced he would not be running for re-election in the state of Maine. He's a moderate,and he has no place in his party anymore. And then this morning,you saw the headline. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi has now announced her retirement this morning. That is a very important sign that I hope that you all will delve into. Even the famous San Francisco liberal is not far-left enough for the neo-Marxists. We commend her for her services. We all do,everyone who serves in Congress, but there should be a lot written about that. Fourth point I just want to make in the aftermath of Tuesday is that off-year election results in isolated places are never indicative of the upcoming midterm election. Don't read too much into that. You shouldn't. If you do,you're going to miss it. The GOP is in excellent position to win big next year. And when I say I'm bullish about the midterms, we absolutely are, and there's a lot of reasons for that. This is not groundless optimism. It's based on facts. The reason we're in such a great position is because we are united. And while the Democrats engage in their emerging civil war, Republicans are going to continue to work and deliver for all the new voters that we brought into the party last fall in 2024. It was a true demographic shift in that election, as you know. Record number of Hispanic and Latino voters, black and African-American voters, Jewish voters, union workers, urban voters, young people. And while they say that there's this big swell of enthusiasm, young people, based on what happened in New York City Tuesday night, I would give to you exhibit A on our side. Maybe you're not noticing, but the turning point events at college campuses all around the country are setting records for attendance. You have hundreds of thousands of new young people weekly coming into the movement that are enthusiastic. Young conservatives who are looking for truth, who believe in America's founding principles and who want to be engaged. And they will be engaged in next year's midterms. The third reason is we've got a very favorable map. You shouldn't miss this either. I was very bullish even before the current redistricting battles began. As we sit here today, there are 13 House Democrats sitting in districts that President Trump won. There's another 21 of them in districts he came within five points of winning. There's only three, conversely. There's only three House Republicans sitting in districts that Kamala Harris won. That's a lopsided map. And after redistricting, we think we'll net a few more seats, handful, maybe six to eight. We're in very good position. to make history and grow this majority. And finally, I'll just leave you with this. The reason we're so enthusiastic about running next year is we have a real record to run on. Mandami and Democrats want to talk about affordability? We love that subject. We love it. Look at the facts. I brought some this morning. It's the Republicans who are working every day to make life more affordable for working families. And it's not a talking point for us. We are delivering. After four long years of skyrocketing prices under the Biden administration, we had to take over. You don't flip a switch and reverse that overnight. It takes a while to work those policies out of the system and to get the new ones in. President Trump and Republicans are delivering results for the American people that they can see and feel. To date, we've seen core inflation is nearing its lowest level in four years. Gas prices have fallen to a four-year low. Prices for everyday goods continue to decline. And blue-collar workers are seeing the largest increase in wage growth in nearly six decades. That's the result of our policies. And Congress, House Republicans are working hand-in-hand with President Trump to advance his affordability agenda. It is President Trump who ran on that. It's President Trump who's delivering on that. And we are all partners in that new effort to make America great again. It begins with the economy, and we know that. We're laser-focused on making a difference in the lives of hard-working American families. Here's another demonstration. The working families tax cut. It is aptly named. It's the largest tax cut in U.S. history for working and middle-class Americans. You've got Bernie Sanders running around. They're talking about the billionaires. It's not this. That's the opposite of the truth. Look at the facts. That bill was written for lower- and middle-class earners. And they're the ones that will feel the positive effects going into next year. We include it in that, as you know. No tax on tips. No tax on overtime. Real tax relief for seniors. These are the kinds of things that people feel. And they see that we're making good on our promises. We've made historic investments in American energy dominance to drive down the cost of gasoline and groceries. And we're grounding every decision we make in common sense. That's what we restored. That's what we ran on. That's what we're delivering. A return to common sense. Not the woke, progressive nonsense that they delivered for four years. Not the spending like drunken sailors that drove cost up for everything with inflation. We're restoring common sense. Fiscal responsibility. We're good stewards of taxpayer dollars. And we're refusing to cave right now today that the Democrats' wild demand to spend $1.5 trillion in new spending. That is taxpayer dollars. That's your money that they want to spend to reopen the government. That's their counterproposal. That's why we're not having a negotiation with them. It's ridiculous. Included in the $1.5 trillion that they want to spend is $200 billion. Almost $200 billion to restore health care benefits to illegal aliens. That is taxpayer money that they want to spend for that. They want to send billions of dollars back overseas for social programs in foreign countries. We're not doing that. They want to give a half a billion dollars back to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to prop up left-leaning news organizations. We're not doing that. And by the way, in the middle of all this, they want to cut $50 billion from the Rural Hospital Fund. They can't tell you they care about health care since they put that in their proposal. We're grounding every decision in common sense. The Democrats had their chance. When they controlled Washington, look at the history. Don't forget it. This was just a year ago. You know, we inherited. They left us with a 40-year high inflation, higher taxes and energy prices, and massive instability around the world. And what did they do in June of this year? This is the most recent history no one can forget. They voted against no tax on tips. They voted against no taxes on Social Security. They voted against a larger child tax credit. The Democrats in the House and Senate voted against lower energy prices, against more American manufacturing and jobs, and against lowering health care premiums by 12%. That provision, the cost-sharing reduction provision, was in the House version of the Working Families Tax Cut, the big, beautiful bill. We sent it over to the Senate. And they worked to strike it out of the bill. Ask the Senate Democrats about that. Right now, they've created another mess. They've created a mess for America with this pointless government shutdown. The Democrats will tell you that they're feeling emboldened. They're feeling emboldened because they had a few blue-state election results. It does not change the fact that they have walked their party off a cliff with no parachute and no path forward. The reason we're stuck right now is because of one simple fact. If they vote to reopen the government, the Senate Democrats are afraid that the radicals in their party will say that they caved. They're afraid of the retribution that will come from that. But if they keep the government shut down, they know very well, as we all do, that millions of Americans will continue to suffer as essential services remain unfunded and paychecks to federal workers continue to stay stalled. So our question for Democrats this morning is this. Which constituency matters more? The loud radicals in your party or the hard-working American people? I can tell you which side the Republicans are on. 15 times we voted for the hard-working American people. And 15 times so far, the Democrats in Congress have voted for the radicals in their party. It is unconscionable to us that they've allowed it to go on this long. And at some point, all you can do is pray that common sense prevails. And that's what I've been doing a lot of. We hope and pray that there are still Democrats out there. There's just a handful. We need five more votes five centrist, common sense Democrats in the Senate to come to those senses and do the right thing. It's time for them to put their country first. I'm delighted to introduce the next speaker. And he's a congressman from Miami. He's a former mayor of the county down there. And he's been in charge. He served as a police officer. But he was the chief of the fire department down there. I mean, the guy's resume is longer than almost anybody in Congress. And as a son of a firefighter, I always take personal delight in reminding everybody he's the only career firefighter paramedic in Congress. He's doing a great job. And he serves as vice chairman of the Republican Governance Group, one of our largest and most active caucuses I mentioned. And we're truly grateful to have him here to discuss some of these consequences of the government shutdown. Glad to have him. Carlos, come on up. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And if you indulge me, I think you brought me up here to talk about the shutdown. But I will stray a little bit. I'm the only Cuban-born member of Congress. That means I was born in Cuba. I was not born here in the United States. I didn't speak a word of English until I got here. I was 7 years old. And the reason I'm here is that my parents brought me here seeking freedom. Freedom from communism. Freedom from a Marxist regime. And so I can tell you that I know a communist and a Marxist when I see one. They may call themselves a socialist. They may call themselves a democratic socialist. But, you know, make no mistake. Mandami in New York, he's a Marxist. And the thing that bothers me is he's very proud to say, Well, I'm young, I'm this, I'm that, I'm Muslim. I understand you can be proud of that. But then, you know, if you're so proud, don't call yourself a democratic socialist. You are a Marxist. Go ahead. Tell people exactly who you are. He couldn't. And he can't because he knew he wouldn't get elected. But I hope that the people of New York do not suffer the same consequences that my homeland of Cuba has suffered. Castro and the Castro regime destroyed my homeland. They can't even keep the lights on. They don't have food. They don't have medicine. They can't keep the lights on. It's a total disaster of an island, a beautiful island that actually had the second highest standard of living in the Western Hemisphere when the regime took over. And so one of the reasons I'm in Congress, the primary reason I'm in Congress is that I want to make sure that my children and grandchildren never suffer the same fate that my parents did having to leave their country and bring us to a new country with about $10 in their pocket. Now, that's what makes this country great. My parents came here with $10 in their pocket and a watch. By the way, I still have that watch. And here I am. Their son was a firefighter. He was a city manager. He was a county commissioner, a county mayor of the largest county in the state of Florida and now a member of Congress. I don't think there's too many countries that you can say that that can happen. That's why I love this country. That's why I will fight for this country. And again, I know a Marxist when I see one. And it's unfortunate that the Democrat Party is heading that way, which means we just have to fight that much harder. Here to talk about the shutdown. And so I'm Congressman Carlos Jimenez again. I represent the state of Florida, Miami and the Keys. Today I'm standing in for my friend, RG2 Chairman David Valadao of California with one clear message. I want to thank also the other members of RG2 that are here. The Republican Governance Group focus has always been about governing responsibly. RG2 is committed to putting results ahead of rhetoric, keeping the government functioning and finding practical common sense solutions that improve the lives of the American people. That's what we're here to do. And that means that we do what's right even when it's hard. Yes, we're here on day 37 of the Democrat government shutdown. And with each passing day, more Americans are feeling the impact. The effects in my hometown or my state. In my home state of Florida, 155,000 federal employees have not received their paychecks. Close to 2 million Floridians who rely on SNAP, including more than 1 million children, will not be getting their benefits. My colleagues on the other side insist we have chosen... My colleagues on the other side of the aisle have chosen politics over food security for millions of Americans. Small business loans are being delayed, totaling nearly 300 million in missed distributions, costing our state an estimated $1.7 billion in economic benefit alone. Starting Friday, 10% of the American airspace is going to be reduced because of the shutdowns. Ahead of the busy holiday season, more than 3,500 flights will either be delayed or canceled altogether. That's true effect of the shutdown. Let me be clear. Holding the government hostage is not a responsible way to negotiate policy. On September 19th, the House of Representatives voted to extend government funding to keep the government open. And as the Speaker said, with a clean CR, there were no riders in it. There's no policy differences. It's actually a Biden budget, right? And so, you know, what is the problem? No, there is no problem. It's politics. That's the problem. Meanwhile, Senate Democrats have voted 14, now you say 15 times, to keep the government closed. The funding bill before the Senate is the same short-term continuing resolution that we passed 15 times under President Biden with bipartisan support. And I supported each and every one of them. To keep the government open. And I know that most, if not all the members of RG2 also voted for the CRs to keep the government funded. We can and should debate serious issues like health care costs, but not at the expense of hard-working American families. I urge my Senate Democrat colleagues to pass the continuing resolution so that we can reopen the government and return to the table to negotiate real solutions. History shows that when Congress works together we can find solutions without inflicting pain on the American people. I urge Senate Democrats again to reopen the government, end the suffering, and then join us in crafting meaningful bipartisan policy meant to improve the lives of everyday Americans. That's how we govern responsibly and that's how we serve the American people. And I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity. And I guess now I want to turn the dais over to our majority leader, Steve Scalise. Thank you, Carlos. And what an honor it is to follow my dear friend Carlos Jimenez, who really is the epitome of the American dream. You know, when you hear stories like his, you know, sad stories, the start, the root of it, you know, having to flee your home country because Cuba fell to Marxism, to communism. But luckily, for people like Carlos, all around the world, there's one place that they can look to if they want a North Star. If they still believe in freedom, they yearn for that desire, and then it fails in their home country, they can look to the United States because the United States represents freedom all around the world. And how dangerous of a position that is when Marxists from within try to change it here, try to unravel what makes America so great. And as Carlos came to seek that freedom that millions of others have as well, like my great-grandparents who came from Italy to seek that same freedom, Ronald Reagan said it best, freedom is only one generation away from extinction if we don't fight to defend it. Those words of Reagan still ring true today because Carlos, we will continue to fight for freedom. But it's not an empty fight. There are people on the other side here in America that are pushing back, that want to destroy that capitalist free market system. And so when you look at the results of the election, anybody that wants to go celebrate a blue state voting blue, what they're not acknowledging is what happened in a city like New York, it reverberates. When New York elects a Marxist as their mayor, there are other Democrats that are now looking and saying, does the Democrat Party represent me anymore? And today you heard it again, Democrats are the ones who are looking and saying that they're done with the Democrat Party. Jared Golden yesterday announced he's not going to run again. And he didn't just say he wasn't going to run again because he got tired of serving in Congress. I think it's really important to pay attention to what Jared Golden said. And he is in a swing district. Jared Golden is one of those moderate Democrats who represents maybe the old Democrat Party now, what was discarded by the voters on Democrat cities and states. But it's not where America is. So when Jared Golden announced yesterday he's not going to run again, he said, we're allowing the most extreme pugilistic elements of our party to call the shots. Just look again at the shutdown. For as long as I can remember, we have opened, we have opposed shutting down the government over policy disputes. We criticized Republicans for taking hostages this way. That was Jared Golden explaining why he's done with being a Democrat in Congress. And when the Democrat Party no longer stands for common sense, for members that do on occasion reach across the aisle, they're going to be relegated to a scrap heap of history. Because America is not a socialist nation. While the Democrat Party has turned their leadership structure over to a socialist, it's not where America is. And if they're running people like Jared Golden out of their party, they can go celebrate the results of last night's election. Again, if Alabama held an election also Tuesday and gee whiz, a Republican governor was elected governor of Alabama, would anybody be writing a story about it? Of course not. So let them go celebrate New Jersey electing a Democrat governor, New York City electing a Democrat. The real concern is that the Cuomo wing of the Democrat Party got destroyed by the Mondami wing of the Democrat Party. And if they want to call that a victory, good luck. Something tells me they're not going to be sending Mondami to swing districts around America. He's not going to Maine. Let Mondami go to Maine for that now open seat in Congress, a 50-50 district. Will they be sending Mondami to those kind of swing districts? Colorado, where somebody like Gabe Evans represents, is Mondami going to be going there? Because that's where their party is now headed. And they chose that. But America is not embracing that form of socialism. We know what you get from socialism. You get the promises of free everything. But Americans know innately there's no such thing as a free lunch. All you end up with, the results, are the hollow promises and the failures that come with those promises because you know you get what you pay for. And somebody else is going to have to pay for that free thing. And a lot of those rich people they love denouncing are leaving. Many have already left. So even when they go raise taxes even more with the highest rates you can imagine, who's going to pay those higher rates? It's not going to be the millionaires and billionaires. Many of them have already left. It's going to be hard-working families in New York City. Good news for you, you might be making 100,000 a year. By the way, a police officer married to a school teacher makes more than that in New York City. They're going to be the quote-unquote rich who get the higher taxes and the free buses and the grocery stores that are run by the government with empty shelves and expired food. That's what they're going to get. But the rest of America is not going to have it. So while Democrats keep the government shut down and they brag about it, you heard Senator Murphy yesterday quote I think we're in an enormously strong position right now. Strong position? What's so strong about taking food out of the mouths of 42 American families? What is strong about that, Senator? Sure, you can vote again today to keep the government shut down, but there's nothing strong about denying food to people who are low-income and who can't afford it. That's a weak place to be. But that's what they're bragging about. When, as we saw, the transportation secretary yesterday said 10% of flights are going to have to be cut back because we don't have enough air traffic controllers because Democrats chose not to pay them. And so people are getting ready to go travel to see their family hopefully for Thanksgiving. But they're not going to be able to get that flight. They're going to have to leave a day or two earlier to drive. Maybe they won't be able to fly. But don't worry. Some Democrat senator thinks he's in a stronger position because he's now leveraged Americans as pawns in some game. That's what they think this is. It's disgusting. And the American people are catching on. And so while Democrats applaud socialism being the new wave of their party, the few common-sense Democrats left in their party are leaving, running for the exits. Well, you might be able to leave New York City and go to Florida or Texas or somewhere else. But if they destroy America, there's nowhere else to go. That's why we're going to fight for freedom every single day. And their approach to Marxism, socialism, whatever you want to call it, will not prevail in America. Our whip, Tom Emmer. It's day 37 of the Democrat government shutdown. And one thing has become clearer, more clear now than ever. The Democrat party of today is not your grandparents' Democrat party. They refuse to govern. They resort to hostage-taking when they don't get their way. They routinely put politics before people. And now, now they have made communists and assassination fantasizers the pillars of their party. Democrats claim they want to make life more affordable for hard-working Americans But every time that they've had the majorities in Congress and a Democrat president in the White House, they've done the exact opposite. Take the American Rescue Plan under Joe Biden, for example, which was later deemed by economic experts as the, quote, original sin that led to double-digit inflation. Or look at the Affordable Care Act, which is so unaffordable they have to pay people to use it. The Democrats have no moral high ground to stand on when it comes to good governance. They don't know what it is. And when they claim that they're fighting for you, do not believe them. Because if this shutdown has taught us anything, it's that the Democrats will willingly inflict pain on the American people if they think it gives them political leverage. Their kamikaze politicians and their constituents deserve better. In stark contrast, however, Republicans have done our jobs. We passed a nonpartisan government funding bill out of the House over a month ago. All we need, as the speaker said earlier, is just five Democrats in the Senate to grow a spine, stand up to the radicals in their party, and join us in getting our clean CR to the president's desk. Enough is enough. It's past time that Democrats... It's past time for Democrats to end the political games and reopen the government for the people they were elected to serve. Our conference chair, Lisa McClain. Thank you. Good morning, everybody. Again, here we are. Yesterday, Americans woke up to an unthinkable reality. And Carlos touched on it earlier. A communist was elected mayor in America's largest city. How did this happen? Ask yourself, how did this happen? It happened because a small socialist portion of this country took control of the Democrat Party. A party that is now apparently united behind a socialist agenda. And slogans always seem to start with the same word. Free. Free food, free rent, free buses. Right? I feel like I'm at an Oprah Winfrey show. You get a car and you get a car. Well, this isn't the Oprah Winfrey show. And like many of you, my parents taught me a really good lesson when I was young. Nothing, nothing is free. Everything comes with a cost. Absolutely nothing is free. We all learned that. Look no further than the Democrats' disastrous shutdown plan. They want to give free healthcare to illegals. Come to our country. We'll give you, illegally mind you, we'll give you free healthcare on the backs of hardworking Americans. And in demanding that, they're asking for $1.5 trillion in wasteful spending and a painful shutdown. A shutdown that has denied food assistance to 42 million American families. 42 million American families. A shutdown that has forced law enforcement to work without pay. But don't worry. I'm sure those law enforcement agents can go and get free food from their local grocery store and somebody will pay their free rent. Right? Yeah. I live in reality, not fantasy. The Democrats want to jeopardize our national security. And now, flights have been reduced by 10% at 40 of our major airports. I think air traffic, like when you get on a plane, what's next? Like your plane rides are going to be free too? I mean, why stop at food and buses? Let's just give everything free. It doesn't work like that, people. Nothing's free. Somebody is paying. And who pays? Anybody want to guess who pays? Hardworking taxpayers. American taxpayers. That's who pay. Nothing's free. Right? Nothing is free. Look at your Republican leaders. Just compare and contrast. That's why we voted more than a month ago to actually fund the government. That's why we've been working in our districts to help those that are suffering. And that's why we are delivering real results that drive down gas prices and drive down mortgage rates and drive down the price of eggs. No one's reporting on the price of eggs anymore. Right? Now, not for illegals. Not for radicals. And not for communists who despise this country. But for the men and women who love America. Like Carlos and his family who came over. And let's keep it that way. And let's make sure that we keep America strong everyday. So to the Democrats, let me be clear. Republicans will still be there when your communist lawmakers aren't. And when your communist kingmakers finally give you permission to put Americans first again. Republicans will still be here. We'll still be here when your socialist experiment collapses because it always does. And we'll still be standing shoulder to shoulder with the hardworking Americans who aren't demanding free groceries. Free buses. Free rent. No. We will be standing shoulder to shoulder demanding nothing less than freedom. That is what Republicans demand. Freedom. Because that's what makes this country great. Not socialism. Not government control. But freedom. Thank you. Alright, questions? Yeah, go ahead. The Supreme Court and specifically Justice Gorsuch yesterday seemed concerned about the Trump usurping the congressional one-way ratchet that came in. What's your response to that? Are you on Justice's right to be concerned that Congress is fulfilling its constitutional obligations? I don't find myself in disagreement with Justice Gorsuch too often, but I think he's missed the mark on this one. First of all, I don't think you should read too much into the questioning that you heard at the Supreme Court. I mean, this is part of judicial review. It's a cherished part of that tradition. I used to be one of those litigators. I did constitutional law I would have liked to have argued that case yesterday because I think the law is clearly on the side of what the administration has done. I'll remind you that I'm a jealous guardian of Article 1. You know, the legislative branch of government and our constitutional system is the most important. It was placed first in prominence. And that's true. And while Congress has a role to play in tariffs and related trade and economic policy, the executive branch does as well. And I think the president has used that well within the bounds of what he's allowed to do because he's addressing what was truly a crisis for the country. The trade disparity had gone on for decades. It was creating a real imbalance. And it was adversely affecting American people and consumers. Remember that he ran on this idea. He talked about tariffs on the campaign trail. And he got a popular and electoral college mandate in the election. So this is not some surprise. He's fulfilling the promise that he was elected to fulfill in a literal sense. So I think the court has to give deference to that. I think the court has to recognize the executive is doing what they're doing. He's using tariffs to create leverage in our trade strategy. And it is yielding great results for the American people. And heaven forbid if it were reversed because it would create chaos, which is one of the questions I think Justice Barrett asked my old friend from Louisiana. I mean, that was an important question because it would set back all of the strategy and the trade agreements and a lot of the things that have been accomplished for the people. So in summary, I would say don't read too much into the questions. This is how the process works. I'm sure the court will look at this very carefully and deliberately as they do. And I expect that we'll have a majority of the court that says that this administration is doing what they have the legal authority to do. If I felt like the executive branch had overstepped its bounds on trade or on the tariffs or something, I would have stepped in. I mean, that's my job as the Speaker of the House over the legislative branch. I would have done it in my own way to be candid. I would have gone to the President privately and said, Hey, sir, enough. I think you've overstepped the bounds. Let's try to figure that out. I wouldn't have publicly had a big dispat with him because it wouldn't have been necessary. But that conversation didn't happen because I believe that what he's done is well within the bounds. And so we'll see what the court does. Yes, sir. Thanks, Mr. Speaker. Leaner Food has sent out a number that in exchange for re-wanting CSF to do the same in the House. He promised it a long time ago and he was rebuffed. I mean, that's not what this is about. I mean, they've demonstrated over and over and over. Somebody said this is the Seinfeld shutdown. It's about nothing. If you brought in a hundred Senate and House Democrats right now and said what is it about, they wouldn't even give you the same answer. They don't even know. They filed a counterproposal that's $1.5 trillion in new spending with all the crazy abuses that I listed earlier today. That's still sitting out there. That's the counterproposal. Then they tried to say it was about health care. That was never the issue for the September 30th fiscal cliff. That was always a December issue. We always knew. Everybody in the building knew. We were going to have to wrestle through that and come to a consensus on a solution on the COVID-era Obamacare subsidies in October, November, December. Ironically, they're eating up all the clock where that would have been done. It's not about any of this. It's about politics as we explained earlier. They are more afraid of the radical activists who are running the Democratic Party right now than they are of starving families. Having families go hungry and having federal workers go without paychecks. That's just the simple fact. So, yes, Leader Thune has been over backwards. He's offered them a vote. You know what they told them in response? No, we need you to guarantee the outcome of that vote. Well, that's ridiculous. That can't be done. No, because we did our job and I'm not part of the negotiation. The House did its job on September 19th. I'm not promising anybody anything. I'm going to let this process play out. I'll tell you what they wanted. I'll tell you what Schumer and Jeffries wanted. In fact, Chuck Schumer said it publicly and decried that Thune and I would not go in a back room with them and make a four corners agreement on Obamacare subsidies and I said there's no way. That was never possible or appropriate for that to be handled on a CR on a short-term stop-gap funding measure and he knows that and we're not doing that anymore. We're not taking four corners, four leaders in a back room and making a deal and hoisting it upon the people. I'm not going to be a part of that. Chuck Schumer is part of the old way this was done and that's part of the reason why people have such a lack of trust in Congress. We need to be transparent, open. We need to do it through the process. We need to involve and engage all of our caucuses and all of our members in this discussion. Health care is very complicated. It is very complex and it is not something four people can go in a smoke-filled room in the back and make a deal on. I reject it. Yes. Look, I spoke with the president about it. I reminded him as I said this morning this is not a surprise to us. I mean, blue states selected blue leaders. I mean, yeah, so what? I mean, it would have been a huge headline if we could have had an upset there. But that was to be expected. As Leader Scalise said, I mean, you know, if the three big elections yesterday would have been in, you know, Louisiana, Alabama and Texas, you would have a totally different narrative, right? Or name any red state. It just so happened that those were the blue states. That was the blue outcomes. That's what everybody expected. I don't read too much into that. Yes, the front row. One. Yeah, but the USDA has reported and all of the economists have shown food prices always go up. There's an inflationary level that's built into grocery prices. But they're going up at a much slower pace. In other words, the economic policies, even though all the provisions of the Working Families Tax Cut have not yet been implemented. That's going to make a dramatic effect. It's going to be like jet fuel to the economy. We have all these pro-growth policies that will bring down cost, increase wages, increase jobs and more access to the economic rungs so that more people can climb up the ladder. But in the meantime, even the fact that we have made these positive steps and momentum, grocery prices are rising at their slowest level in many years. You should look into that. So, I mean, that is an exhibit C and the argument that it's Republican policies that are the only thing that's going to bring that down. The reason that your grocery prices are so high, it's multifaceted, but it's because we had four years of Bidenomics. Remember when they tried to tell you that Bidenomics was so good for you and your family and everybody went, what are you talking about? That's part of the reason we shellacked them in the election last fall Because they were trying to sell you a bill of goods that wasn't true. And the reason that inflation rose is because, as was noted earlier, the big signature pieces of legislation that they passed in the Biden administration were disastrous for the economy. And it made inflation rise rapidly. Why? Because when you pour more dollars into the economy, that is the effect. It's just as sure as gravity. It's basic economics. And the Marxist and the socialist who are taking over the Democratic Party turn a blind eye to the reality of basic economics. And you're going to see the effects of that as well. Yes? No. I do believe that the demographic shift that we were able to see and experience in the 2024 election will hold. I believe that large numbers of those new voters in these demographics that have not traditionally been with the Republican Party are with us. I will point you to the study that the Democrats themselves paid for that came out about a week or so ago. And they had, I think, hundreds of thousands of respondents to these polls. And the Democrats determined in their own analysis that they are regarded as weak, woke and out of touch with the people. That's why they lost last November. And that's why they're going to lose this coming November. As Carlos Jimenez said, as a Cuban who came here, his family immigrated here. He came here when he was seven. This is the American dream. I know that the Hispanic and Latino populations across this country understand which party is the best that is delivering for them. And they're going to feel that positive effect. They're going to feel increased wages and more opportunity before they get to that election next fall. And that's why we did the big, beautiful bill, the Working Families Tax Cut so early in the year because we wanted that to really take hold after the beginning of the year so that people will feel that. And we're convinced they will. And I think that's going to endure to our benefit. Thank you all so much.