ICYMI: Rep. Dusty Johnson Quashes Democrats' Government Shutdown Strategy on the Signal Sitdown Podcast
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In Case You Missed It: Rep. Dusty Johnson (SD-AL) appeared on the Daily Signal’s podcast, Signal Sitdown, to debunk the Democrats’ narratives around the government shutdown they orchestrated.
Rep. Johnson highlighted how Senate Democrats have now voted against reopening the government twelve times and recently blocked a measure to pay federal employees during the shutdown.
Watch the full interview on the Signal Sitdown here.
Read highlights from the conversation below:
Rep. Dusty Johnson on Democrats' Loss of Power: “I mean, they're big mad about Donald Trump.That that that's that's the A answer. The B answer is that Chuck Schumer has a base problem and this is a base management exercise for him. Those are the answers. I mean, that explains 95% of the dynamics. I suppose you may get a thoughtful Democrat here and there'll say that they want some legitimate tweak, but that's not the real answer. I mean, the real answer is they're upset about Donald Trump.They're upset about rescissions. They're upset about, you know, Chicago and LA and Memphis and D.C. and they are upset with the fact that they're not in control.”
Rep. Dusty Johnson on Democrats Voting for a CR in March 2025: “In March, we basically had the same CR. Chuck Schumer got rolled. Republicans remain unified and we got just enough Democrats, including Chuck Schumer, to overcome the filibuster in the Senate. His base lost their minds. His much younger, much more progressive, much angrier base wanted him to fight, fight. And Chuck's an old-time DC politician, so he knew or he believed that he needed to get to yes, right? Didn't have a particularly strong hand of cards. He felt like he did the best he could. Then he cut his deal to move on to the next fight. That does not work in today's primary political arenas. And so he lost more capital on that vote than anything else he's ever done and he needed a makeup call. And he has a lot of new up-and-coming progressive politicians in New York. And so now if you're thinking electorally, right? Oh, now I got to make sure that I'm staving off AOC to my left or Zorhan Momdani to the left.”
Rep. Dusty Johnson on Why Shutdowns are Harmful: “The reason I've been opposed to shutdowns as a tactic is that they do not work. We got less border funding after we shut it down in 2018 and 2019 than we had with the deal going into the shutdown. And the same thing is going to happen with Democrats here. The American people, over time, as the shutdown goes on longer, they get irritated with the party that's trying to get something from the shutdown and they find themselves drawn to the very clean message the Republicans have now, which is let's just open up the damn government and then we can negotiate these important policy debates.”