Today, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) appeared on Fox News’ The Story with Martha MacCallum to discuss tonight’s vote to keep the government funded as Democrats work against American families. Leader Scalise also highlighted Vice President Vance’s visit with House Republicans and shared how House Republicans are working with the White House to implement President Trump’s agenda.
 
On House Republicans working with the Trump-Vance Administration to keep the government open:

“Yeah, great to be with you, Martha. When you just heard that comment from [Rep. Jim] McGovern, here he is trying to figure out how to blame Republicans as he's also trying to engineer a government shutdown. Democrats are trying to have it both ways. Democrats are trying to unite everybody against this bill to shut the government down. You see President Trump pushing as well as all of us in our House leadership to get this bill passed. We had JD Vance, the Vice President, come and talk to our members this morning and did a great job of really laying out why it's so important that we keep the government open and pass this bill so that we can continue on with the great work that's being done to get our economy back on track, to get our country moving again.

“There are a lot of problems that need to be worked out. You just saw President Trump again delivering by getting a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia. President Trump is doing his job. The Democrats want to shut the government down to stop that progress. We're going to do our job here in the House in just an hour, as you pointed out, and then let the Senate do their job.

“Thomas Massie is the only hard no. We're working, obviously, there are other members that have had some questions, which we always have when you move a big bill through the House. We had our budget just a few weeks ago, and that passed with just one vote extra. That was a bill where we were talking to members the morning and the day of the vote, which is no surprise on those kinds of votes. Today's no different. We're still having conversations with members, but at the end of the day, we're going to pass the bill.”

On Democrats rallying around a government shutdown:

“Well, if there was a shutdown [from the Senate side], at that point, it would be Chuck Schumer's shutdown because the Republicans are united in getting this done. Chuck Schumer has got to figure out what he's going to do. We've heard him decry government shutdowns over the years. This is a clean CR to prevent a government shutdown. So if he voted to shut the government down now, how would he explain that when you compare that to his previous comments? And think about what's in this bill, Martha. I'm not just talking about keeping the government funded. This bill also includes a pay raise for our troops. Our junior enlisted members of the military are going to be getting the largest pay raise in over 40 years. Why would you vote against that? Democrats are going to have to answer that question along with others if they vote no on this bill. Let's go get it done.”
 

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