LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Democrats objected yesterday when the House convened for less than five minutes - long enough to recite the Pledge of Allegiance - and then adjourned without taking up any business.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MORGAN GRIFFITH: Pursuant to Clause 13 of Rule 1, the House stands adjourned until 3:30 p.m. on Friday, October 3, 2025.
(SOUNDBITE OF GAVEL BANGING)
FADEL: One of the lawmakers on the Democratic side of the House was Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut. She's the ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee. Good morning, thank you for being on the program.
ROSA DELAURO: Good morning. So good to be with you today.
FADEL: So you were in the House yesterday, asking to be recognized, and you weren't. What did you want to say?
DELAURO: Well, what I wanted to do was have the opportunity. But when I was - it was rejected, you - your clip is right. They gaveled me down. What I wanted to do was to offer a bill. This was the continuing resolution alternative that Senator Patty Murray and myself offered that would stop the government shutdown. It would keep the government funded through October 31, avoid the shutdown, allow for bipartisan negotiations to continue over full-year spending bills. And that way, it would - and it would ensure that Congress, not the president or Russ Vought, the head of the Office of Management and Budget, will determine how taxpayer dollars are spent.
FADEL: Now, Republicans are blaming Democrats for the shutdown. Democrats are blaming Republicans. We just heard the results of a new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll that said just 1 in 4 people approve of how Democrats in Congress are doing. And that's not great for your party. Is this shutdown a bid to improve your standing with voters?
DELAURO: You know, I - you know, let's put the - let's put polling aside. I listen to the polling data and know something about polls. Thirty-eight just - 38%, 27% say that, you know, Republicans will be to blame. Let's just take, you know, what is the fact of the matter here. Republicans chose. They chose to shut down the government rather than get into a bipartisan negotiation with Democrats. I have chaired the Appropriations Committee. I'm the ranking member. I have negotiated appropriations bills with Senator Shelby in Alabama, with Congresswoman Granger, with Congressman Cole, with Senator - Senators Murray and Collins, Senator Leahy. We have done it. It was a bipartisan negotiation.
So now, what is at the center of this? What is at the center of this fight? It is over the health care crisis that has been caused by the Republicans. I - 20 million Americans are going to see their health care costs skyrocket. Fifteen million people are going to be jettisoned from Medicaid. They're going to decimate Medicaid. This is historic. This has not happened in U.S. history. In addition, your hospitals were shut down. Nursing homes shut down, clinics.
FADEL: Can I ask you a question on that? I mean, Senate Republican Leader John Thune said he's open to talking about extending the Obamacare subsidies. He's open to negotiation. He doesn't want it to be tied to stopgap spending bill.
DELAURO: Well...
FADEL: So...
DELAURO: ...No. I...
FADEL: Yeah.
DELAURO: Going to - I'm going to answer your question, because that sounds wonderful. And if you've - if you really have been engaged and involved with what's gone on - deals, if you will, made with Republican leadership - all of that has been abrogated. All of it abrogated. Quite frankly, there is no trust factor. We have watched, during this period of time, first Elon Musk. I mean (ph), in January, President Trump illegally fired 17 inspectors general. January 27, they illegally freeze vast swathes of financial assistance. Musk and Trump look at dismantling government. There's a whole litany of what they have done.
And, you know, I'll tell you, if you be - if you trust what they say they're going to do, I've got a bridge that I'm going to sell you. I mean that. It is really impossible. In the midst of these negotiations, Russ Vought, who is the mastermind of this, of this effort, and who wants a shutdown - and he said - his words are very clear - there should be less bipartisanship. The president of the United States said it's a waste of time to negotiate with Jeffries and Schumer. And Republicans rally around, jam this Republican continuing revolution down the Democrats' throat. Now, you tell me if that acts in good faith. And Mr. Vought introduced a bill that would continue to steal the money appropriated by Democrats and Republicans, House and Senate, as we're into these negotiations.
FADEL: This shutdown is a reality now, right? I mean, it's impacting Americans right now. And Democrats said they were worried, back in March, that a shutdown would hand the president more power over the federal workforce.
DELAURO: Yeah.
FADEL: The president is now threatening mass layoffs. What's changed that that worry is no longer here?
DELAURO: Well, the - the president - I mean, this threat of mass layoffs is really so disingenuous because we have been dealing with mass layoffs, you know, for the last several months. You've got 15 - 17,000 people gone from the Department of Health and Human Services, 12,000 people gone from the Veterans Administration. It's rampant that - what they have been doing just on whim, with no discussion.
And let me just say this. We had discussed in appropriations coming to a bipartisan discussion, which is the case on - bipartisan discussion, which we can't do. And it's about the health care crisis. And the issue is health care is one of the things that drives the cost up for people every single day - their cost of living. What we need to do is to make sure that the cuts are no longer there, that we address the cost of living and we save health care for the American people. That is what's on the line. That's what Democrats are prepared to do.
FADEL: Representative Rosa DeLauro, Democrat from Connecticut. Thank you very much for your time.
DELAURO: Thank you.
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