October 15, 2025

Chairman Aguilar: Enough is enough. It's time for Republicans to get serious, to work with us and to save health care. The country and their constituents are watching.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar joined Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Democratic Whip Katherine Clark for a press conference about the Republican shutdown and Republicans’ refusal to address the health care crisis they created. You can watch the full press conference here and read the transcript of Chairman Aguilar's remarks below.

CHAIRMAN AGUILAR: Thank you, Whip Clark and thank you, Leader Jeffries. As you may know, as the Whip just laid out, the Republican-controlled House has not voted since September 19th—nearly one month ago. And in that time, House Republicans have continued to be on vacation. They haven't been holding town halls, they haven't been finding out ways to reopen government and they haven't been working to save Americans' health care. Republican Representative Kevin Kiley from California even called the Speaker's decision to adjourn the House, ‘embarrassing’ and the ‘wrong decision.’ What have Trump and Republicans been doing for the last few weeks? Refusing to work with Democrats. Digging in deeper into their anti-health care position. Threatening federal workers. And even offering a bailout to Argentina, to the tune of $40 billion in taxpayer money. Yesterday, the Speaker admitted that he didn't ‘have a strategy’ and when it came to his position, just that he would not negotiate. Well, Democrats have a strategy: work with us in a bipartisan way to fund government that lowers the cost of health care and ensures Americans keep their coverage.

If Republicans fail to come to the table, health care for constituents in red districts, in purple districts and in blue districts will continue to spike. Republicans are acting as if their own constituents won't be hurt by their decisions and the recklessness that they've created. But the truth is, thanks to the Big Ugly Law and the looming expiration of the ACA tax credits, everyone is going to see their health care costs increase. In some states, Americans are already seeing the premium sticker shock when shopping for their health care plans for 2026. Soon, this will be rattling households all across the country. Enough is enough. It's time for Republicans to get serious, to work with us and to save health care. The country and their constituents are watching.

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