Exclusive Interview with Speaker Johnson and Leader Scalise: When Democrats Say the Quiet Part Out Loud

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Right to the Point podcast released its biggest episode to date, featuring an exclusive conversation with RSC Chairman August Pfluger (R-TX) alongside House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA). As the Schumer Shutdown enters its fifth week, Speaker Johnson and Leader Scalise expose how the Democrats are holding American families hostage—voting 13 times to keep the government closed while demanding $1.5 trillion in new spending and healthcare for illegal aliens over paychecks for our troops.

The trio reveal the stark reality of the modern-day Democrats: the Left openly admits they're causing suffering to American families for "leverage," while Republicans passed a clean continuing resolution to reopen the government weeks ago. The leaders detail the real victims—42 million Americans losing SNAP benefits this weekend, TSA agents and air traffic controllers working without pay, and federal employees forced to pick up second jobs just to put food on the table.

Speaker Johnson and Leader Scalise also share their personal journeys from humble Louisiana beginnings to leading the House, reflect on their time as Republican Study Committee Chairmen, and explain how conservative principles are driving the Republican agenda under President Trump's unified government. Plus, the trio makes their College Football National Championship predictions—will it be the Texas A&M Aggies or LSU Tigers?

You can listen to the full episode exclusively on:
Spotify HERE
Apple Podcasts HERE
Rumble HERE

Read highlights of their conversation below: 

Speaker Johnson on Democrats Playing Political Games:
“We're really so frustrated and we're just angry about the fact that Democrats are playing games right now. And it's pretty readily apparent that simple facts are that we must have Democrats to reopen the government. And they keep saying breathlessly that it's the Republicans. They're in control of the government. Everybody knows from civics, and if you follow government, you have to have sixty votes in the Senate. We only have fifty-three Republicans. And so it is the Democrats who now voted thirteen times to close the government, to announce on the Senate Republicans voted every now to open. So it's very clear, and everybody wants to know why. Well, it's important to know what they've countered, what they're demanding as ransom to reopen the government, to get paychecks back to federal employees and troops and TSA agents and Border Patrol agents, air traffic controllers and nutrition assistance to young women and elderly, disabled and veterans health care services and all of what they're holding in ransom is the people themselves. Because what they're demanding is $1.5 trillion in new spending. They want $200 billion to be returned for healthcare to illegal aliens, maybe more taxpayer dollars.”

Majority Leader Scalise on Democrat Leaders Caving to the Radical Left:
“I guess the thing that hits us the hardest, and the speakers convey this every day in our press conferences, is that while Democrats are talking openly now that they know they're causing suffering, real suffering, on families, they don't care because they want to exert leverage, leverage for what they can't even articulate, they are scared to death of their socialist marxists, the most extreme elements of their party, or who they're afraid of. They're doing this shutdown because they're afraid of their own voters. That's how valid and literally, how void of a moral compass the Democratic Party is right now, and so when their minority whip said the open part out loud that, gee whiz, they don't care that they're causing suffering because they want leverage. Who is suffering, I think is important to ask right now, because real families are suffering, and it's getting more real every day.”

RSC Chairman Pfluger on House Republicans Responsibly Funding the Government:
“It's really sad that we're here, because the shield was on the other foot when President Biden was in office and when Pelosi was Speaker, that we had the adult conversation, and we're able to keep our military and Border Patrol and air traffic controllers funded. Something was said by the number two Democrat in the House, and we've all known that Democrats have undertones of anti-family policy, and Republicans are standing firmly for families, who are standing firmly to protect what our greatest asset is. But what Katherine Clark said recently, it's just disgusting to say what she said, which was that she knew that American families were struggling, and yet these are their only times of leverage.”