Cuellar on SAN: Texas Dem upbeat about deal 1 day out from shutdown
Congress has failed to pass a funding bill, and the federal government is going to run out of money at 12:00 a.m. on Oct. 1. Negotiations are stalled. The House of Representatives passed a seven-week continuing resolution (CR) on Sept. 19, but it does not have the Democratic support necessary for approval in the Senate.
So there’s an impasse with a day to go, making a government shutdown more likely. During that time, all non-essential federal employees will be told to stay home, while essential workers, like law enforcement and TSA agents, will work without pay.
Despite the chamber being out of session, House Democrats flew back to Washington for a strategy meeting Monday night.
Straight Arrow News political correspondent Ray Bogan spoke with Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, on his way from the airport to the Capitol building about his party’s strategy regarding government funding.
Ray Bogan: Let me start off by asking: You may or may not have seen this because it happened when you were on the plane, but Chuck Schumer has asked a small group of Senate Democrats if they would be okay approving a 10-day CR if President Trump promises to negotiate on Affordable Care Act subsidies, which, of course, are going to expire at the end of the year. If they did that, it would need to be approved by the House. Does that get your vote?
Rep. Henry Cuellar: Actually, I was sitting down with the senator, and I asked him, because I saw that we do have WiFi on the phone on the plane, and he said he would prefer to have seven instead of 10 days so we can talk about it. Would I look at something like that? Yes, if there was something that would tell us that there will be a negotiation on healthcare.
RB: So help us understand, because Democrats want an extension of the Affordable Care Act insurance premium tax credits, and you also want to reverse the Medicaid cuts that were passed in the One Big, Beautiful Bill. Why does that need to be in a continuing resolution when you would need to get that into a full-year appropriations package anyway?
HC: If you look at the shutdowns we’ve had since, let’s say, the 1980s, a lot of those shutdowns have been under Republicans. Ronald Reagan had three shutdowns. I think the current president has two; this might be the third one. And if you recall that 34-, 35-day shutdown that we had, the last one, it was over, what, for the (border) wall, which is something that could have been done in the appropriations. Eventually, the appropriations itself. I think this is one way that we can get to the table. And I think it’s very important to understand that healthcare is something that we need to protect.
RB: The current seven-week package gives you until Nov. 21. The House Appropriations Committee has approved all 12 appropriations bills, albeit on a partisan basis. The Senate has approved three of the 12 appropriations bills on a very bipartisan basis. So do you think Congress has made enough progress to get this done by Nov. 21?
HC: Well, look, we could. We could have done these appropriations a long time ago. I sit on the Appropriations Committee. When I first started, I was told, ‘Henry, now that you’re a member of Appropriations, keep in mind that there are Democrats and there’s Republicans in Congress, and then you have appropriators.’ This time, it was just not the same. Everything was very partisan, instead of the bipartisan type of negotiations I’ve seen in the past. So again, we’ll get there. It’s always a little dance to get there, but we’ll get there.
RB: The Office of Management and Budget sent a memo to departments and agencies. It says agencies are directed to use this opportunity to consider reduction-in-force or RIF notices for all employees in programs, projects or activities that aren’t consistent with the president’s priorities. It was that exact concern that got Senate Democrats to give the green light in March to prevent a government shutdown. Why is it different this time?
HC: It’s unprecedented to say that you’re going to have mass layoffs. We’ve never seen this before. And what we’re seeing is the other side, basically, is trying to put the pressure on Democrats to just cave in and do whatever they want to. I really think that what we ought to do is sit down and work this out. Look, there are so many ways that we can work this out. I know we can. We’ve done it in the past, but again, the last time we were dealing with the border wall, it was a 34-, 35-day shutdown, and I hope that we don’t get in that same type of situation.
RB: It appears that part of the decision to demand these Affordable Care Act subsidies at this moment was based on polling. There’s one poll from the Data for Progress that reveals 59% of voters would blame President Trump and Congressional Republicans for a shutdown, and that voters overwhelmingly support the Affordable Care Act extension. But here’s the question: this poll only shows that the voters support the Affordable Care Act subsidies. It doesn’t necessarily show that they support a shutdown to get them, and it doesn’t necessarily show that they need them to be in a continuing resolution, as opposed to the final appropriations bill. So how do you know then that this is the right path?
HC: When people get their notices that they’re not going to have any more insurance, it’s going to be real. It’s not going to be a process. Whether you add it on a CR or you do it in a regular appropriations, it becomes real when a government shuts down and then on top of that, you have high costs because of tariffs, you have utility prices going up, grocery prices going up because of tariffs. And then on top of that, they get an insurance notice that they don’t have any more insurance, or their Medicaid is going to be cut, or the Medicare eventually will be cut. This doesn’t become a process question. It becomes something real to the voters.
RB: That poll I just cited is from a progressive firm, and their motto is, “polling that empowers progressive activists.” When you get polls like that from a partisan firm, do you feel that it is emblematic or truly represents all of America, or just a specific subset?
HC: I’ve seen polls from the left, from the right, but I always go on trying to get the pulse of the community, and all I know is my area is one of the most uninsured areas, districts in the whole country. And this is why I feel that healthcare, Medicaid, Medicare, the Obamacare, are things that people really care about.
RB: The government is currently being funded by a continuing resolution, and it has been all year, which, of course, goes back to 2024 and President Biden. That is something conservatives like Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, have talked about. They say we don’t want to keep this moving forward because this is Biden’s budget. Does that make you want to support it at all? Knowing, well, this isn’t ideal, but at least it’s a budget that was passed under the Biden administration.
HC: Well, it wasn’t really passed by Biden himself. It was passed by Congress. I joke around with my Republican friends. You do know that every time you do a CR, it was done under Biden. I’d rather just have Congress do it the way we’ve always done in a bipartisan way. Pass an appropriation bill or 12 appropriation bills.
RB: We’re starting to approach the Capitol. Let me ask you, you’re about to go into this meeting with all 213 House Democrats. What does leader Jeffries need to say to make sure everybody is unified and on the same team? How does he ensure that a purple district Democrat doesn’t say, “Hey, you know what? I don’t want to take a chance on this. This could come back to haunt me in 2026?”
HC: Yes, and we saw that in 2019 when we had a government shutdown. And I think I’m able to explain it well to the public in my district about government shutdowns, and when you have to stand up for something, you don’t just cave every time there’s a threat of a government shutdown. And we don’t want to have a government shutdown. But I think people understand that I’m one of those that I stand for. You know, where do we put people first, instead of putting party first. And that’s unfortunately what happens here in Washington, DC, sometimes by Democrats, sometimes by Republicans, that they put party first. But people understand that I always put country first.
RB: Thank you very much, Congressman Cuellar for the ride from the airport.
HC: Thank you.
The post Cuellar on SAN: Texas Dem upbeat about deal 1 day out from shutdown appeared first on Straight Arrow News.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
