The Washington Reporter: SCOOP: "Shutdowns should never be used as leverage to get more wasteful spending": Inside the Main Street Caucus's partnership with the House GOP
Rep. Lisa McClain (R., Mich.), the Chairwoman of the House GOP Conference, continued making the rounds with the various Republican factions, joining with the Main Street Caucus to showcase the GOP’s unity in the face of unprecedented Democratic obstruction.
“Shutdowns should never be used as leverage to get more wasteful spending,” McClain said on the call. “But that’s exactly what Democrats are doing. They are fighting for a radical $1.5 trillion package that spends your tax dollars on benefits for illegal immigrants.”
“Hope is not a strategy, especially when you’re dealing with the Democrats,” McClain added — but it’s clear that she is approaching the messaging war with the team she needs. All members of the Main Street Caucus sided with President Donald Trump and voted to keep the government open, only for Senate Democrats to repeatedly stymie their efforts.
Rep. Mike Flood (R., Neb.), the chair of the Main Street Caucus, told the Washington Reporter on the call that it is “really unprecedented how united Republicans are.”
Flood’s caucus members hammered their messages home during the call. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R., N.Y.) noted that “Chuck Schumer used to win by district by large numbers,” but now she easily wins it as a Republican. She said that Schumer is afraid of both Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) and Zohran Mamdani.
“Chuck Schumer was willing to see his military go unpaid. He was willing to see women and infants and children go hungry,” she said. “He wants to talk about health care, yet he’s blocking $1.4 billion in critical funding for New York hospitals.”
It’s not just American troops who aren’t getting paid. Rep. Gabe Evans (R., Colo.) noted that “Democrats campaigned on defunding police, ICE, and Border Patrol, and now they’re doing it by shutting down the government.”
“We’re asking federal law enforcement to go do a dangerous job without pay, with bounties on their heads from cartel members,” Evans — a former cop and Afghanistan veteran — said, somewhat exasperated. “I call on Senators Hickenlooper and Bennet to put public safety first and fund our law enforcement.”
Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R., Ariz.) noted that as a father of six children, he is always traversing his district. “We have thousands of federal employees and military personnel in my district who are going without pay because of political games,” he said. Like Evans, he called out his two Democratic senators, both of whom may be gearing up to run for president in 2028.
“Our two Democratic senators have voted repeatedly to shut down the government ten times now,” Ciscomani said. “This is a bipartisan continuing resolution with no gimmicks or riders. There’s no reason not to pass it and reopen the government immediately.”
Ciscomani spoke for many of his colleagues on and off the call when he said that “it’s time for our senators to stop playing games and start governing.”
Ciscomani: I travel everywhere having six kids, grocery stores, football games, etc