OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
10:06 AM – Wednesday, October 1, 2025
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune held a news conference along with other Republican leaders responding to the government shutdown.
The conference was held on Wednesday morning, hours after the two parties failed to reach a funding deal. This came after the Senate rejected the Republicans’ stopgap bill that the House had passed, needing both Democrat and Republican support to secure the 60 votes needed to advance.
“The Democrats followed through on their threat to shut down the United States government,” said Johnson (R-La.). “As we speak here this morning, there are hundreds of thousands of federal workers who are getting their furlough notices. Nearly half of our civilian workforce is being sent home. These are hardworking Americans who work for our federal government.”
He continued, “Thankfully, President Trump is trying to mitigate the damage as much as possible. His administration is working to limit the harm to the American people, but the longer this goes on, the more pain will be inflicted because it is inevitable when the government shuts down.
The Republican speakers noted that the “Schumer shutdown” was “entirely avoidable.”
“Democrats could have worked with us in a bipartisan manner to avert this unnecessary and very harmful shutdown. But instead, they did something that is rather shocking to us. They prioritized taxpayer funded benefits for illegal aliens over keeping the government open for American citizens,” Johnson said.
Thune (R-S.D.) promoted the 24-page funding bill passed by the House on the Senate floor.
“Does this look partisan?” he asked, flipping the pages of the document. “Does this look dirty to you? 24 pages to fund the government. Nothing more, nothing less, nothing else.”
Both Johnson and Thune recalled previous instances when Democrats, while in the majority, passed legislation to avert a looming government shutdown.
“They have taken the American people hostage in a way that they think benefits them politically,” Thune said of Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and the other 44 democrats who voted to shut the government down at midnight on Wednesday.
Additionally, Thune responded to the democrats on Tuesday evening on X, expressing optimism on a resolution.
“Democrats may have chosen to shut down the government tonight, but we can reopen it tomorrow,” he wrote. “All it takes is five Democrats to join Republicans to pass the clean, nonpartisan funding bill that’s in front of us.”
Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts