Calling it the longest complete government shutdown in American history, Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-02) renewed his demand that House Speaker Mike Johnson (La.) “immediately reopen the house to the public.”
Addressing reporters during Tuesday’s news conference, the top member of the House Budget Committee provided an update on the government shutdown, which is now three weeks ancient – the second-longest partial shutdown in American history. The longest? The first Trump administration partially shut down the government for 35 days in 2019.
“The reality is that the government should never be shut down,” Boyle said. “It’s expensive. It’s actually more expensive to shut down the government and then reopen it than it is to just keep it normal to begin with.”
Boyle noted that this is the first government shutdown he has been involved in that resulted in the closure of the House of Representatives.
“This is an outrage,” he said. “We have federal employees who are expected to show up for work every day even though they are not currently paid. So why are members of Congress still getting paid and on leave?
“The only way to end a government shutdown is through compromise and dialogue. It is impossible to have a dialogue when we are literally not even physically present in the session.”
A representative from Northeast Philadelphia spoke about the impact of recent health care cuts President Donald Trump One massive attractive bill.
“You may recall that this bill provided billionaires with the largest tax breaks in American history, in some cases paid for with debt financing, but also financed by including the largest health care cuts in American history,” he said. What does this mean here in Pennsylvania?
“Open registration on our website begins on November 1 [Penny] stock market. Penny told us that if these reductions are not delayed or stopped completely, our stock market will rise by 102%. It’s not 1%. It’s not 2%. Premiums increased by 102%.”
For example, if a family currently pays $500 a month for health insurance, that amount will augment to over $1,000 a month.
Boyle also mentioned that the cuts aren’t just affecting health care in the commonwealth, as cuts to Medicare begin on Jan. 1, followed by cuts to Medicaid.
“The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has told us that 15 million Americans will lose health care as a result of the Big Beautiful Bill. For tens of millions more, premiums will rise dramatically.”
Boyle also addressed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
“The so-called Big Beautiful Bill, which became a big ugly bill, basically the Republican tax bill that was passed and signed into law over the summer, included $187 billion in SNAP cuts, the largest in American history. Now all 50 states are being tasked with seeing how exactly those cuts will be implemented. So each state is doing it a little differently.”
“So SNAP estimates that approximately 143,000 people in Pennsylvania currently receiving SNAP may lose their benefits,” he continued. “I can tell you that in my district, and I represent about half of the city of Philadelphia, we have a much higher SNAP population than the average congressional district in Pennsylvania. So this is going to do real damage. And again, the statewide numbers are that 143,000 Pennsylvanians could lose SNAP benefits as a result of the Republican tax cuts that were included in their tax bills this summer.”
“This will result in a dramatic increase in demands on organizations like Philabundance and others. As a result of the Republican tax bill, these organizations themselves also experienced other types of cuts that were implemented this summer. So it’s a perfect storm. We’re at a moment where food costs in the United States are rising dramatically. At the same time, Republicans have pushed through these massive cuts to SNAP. So this is the absolute worst moment.”
Boyle also criticized the president and held him responsible for the suspension.
“Donald Trump, in a speech from the Oval Office, requested a suspension,” he said. “He has ordered Republicans in Congress not to negotiate with Democratic members, and unfortunately Mike Johnson is complying with those demands. So I think it’s long past time for Republican leaders in Congress to show that they are independently elected officials, to bring us back into session so that we can have these conversations and find a solution, so that we can stop the damage that will be harm to the health care of the American people, and to get the government back up and running.”
The congressman also said that in conversations with cordial House Republicans, they also expressed frustration at being absent from the session.
“They think it looks terrible, because it does,” he said. “It looks terrible because it is terrible. I hope we’re getting to the point now where there’s enough internal frustration going on on the Republican side against their leadership. By the way, you even heard: Senator John Thune (R.S.D.), the Senate Majority Leader, came out yesterday and called on House Republicans to finally reopen the chamber.
“I’m more hopeful now than I was 24 hours ago that we’ll at least get back to Washington soon so we can finally reach a resolution to this matter. But it’s completely insufficient for a GOP Speaker and the White House to tell us: no negotiations, no compromises, take it or leave it. That’s not the way our system of government works.”
