{"id":26969,"date":"2025-11-06T19:42:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T19:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/26969\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T19:42:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T19:42:14","slug":"pennsylvania-democrat-interrupts-speaker-johnsons-shutdown-press-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/26969\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania Democrat interrupts Speaker Johnson\u2019s shutdown press conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) interrupted a House Republican press conference Wednesday, urging Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to \u201ccall the leadership of both parties\u201d to find a solution to the government shutdown.<\/p>\n

Houlahan\u2019s interjection came as Johnson started to take questions during a press conference on the Capitol steps, yelling over the first reporter Johnson called on and saying Johnson is \u201cthe Speaker for the whole House.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re having a press conference, thank you,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

Houlahan continued, \u201cI am part of the American people \u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you should respect free speech,\u201d Johnson said, saying he would \u201clove to talk\u201d to Houlahan in his office.<\/p>\n

\u201cCall the leadership of both parties and bring us together and solve this problem together,\u201d Houlahan said.<\/p>\n

Johnson noted he, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) all met with President Trump in the Oval Office in the days before the shutdown started.<\/p>\n

A Capitol Police officer approached Houlahan but retreated after she noted she is a member of Congress.<\/p>\n

Wednesday marks the 36th day of the government shutdown, making it the longest shutdown in history<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Through the shutdown, Republicans have called on Senate Democrats to pass a Republican-crafted \u201cclean\u201d stopgap to fund the government at current levels through Nov. 21. Democrats have called on Republicans to negotiate on health care, particularly on extending enhanced ObamaCare subsidies that expire at the end of the year, before voting to fund the government.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou voted to shut down the government. You voted to stop SNAP benefits,\u201d Johnson told Houlihan. \u201cYou voted to not pay the troops, not pay TSA and Border Patrol. You may regret it now, but that\u2019s your vote, and it\u2019s on the record.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson and Houlihan talked over each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are absolutely misrepresenting history, sir, and you\u2019re dividing the American people unnecessarily,\u201d Houlahan said. \u201cI do not regret anything. It is important that we unify and that we work together as both parties for the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n

After she walked away from the press conference, Houlahan told The Hill that she chose to interrupt because she had no indication Johnson had talked to the Democratic leaders \u201cin a serious way about trying to come to a compromise.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a mandate. This president has no mandate. These issues are real issues. They deserve to have real conversations. We deserve to have conversations across with the Senate and with the House,\u201d Houlahan said.<\/p>\n

She pointed to decisive Democratic wins in Tuesday\u2019s elections in New Jersey, Virginia, and elsewhere, saying Johnson was trying to \u201cgaslight the American people about the reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Houlahan rejected Republicans\u2019 demands that negotiations begin only after Democrats vote to open the government.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis administration has been completely untrustworthy, has shown over and over again that they do nothing but renege on their promises,\u201d she said. \u201cHe should be just as angry as I am. He\u2019s the Speaker of the House, and he has abdicated his authority, his responsibility, the authority and the responsibility of this Congress to be the power of the purse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) interrupted a House Republican press conference Wednesday, urging Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to \u201ccall…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26970,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[17670,1014,17671,17672,17669,28,30,29,12785,13383,17673],"class_list":{"0":"post-26969","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-chrissy-houlahan","9":"tag-government-shutdown","10":"tag-house-minority-leader","11":"tag-johnson","12":"tag-mike-johnson","13":"tag-pennsylvania","14":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","15":"tag-pennsylvania-news","16":"tag-press-conference","17":"tag-shutdown","18":"tag-whole-house"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}