Republicans are Threatening to Shut Down the Government at Midnight, Exacerbate Republican Health Care Crisis

“I’m not going quietly into the night while Republicans make our families poor, sicker, hunger and more vulnerable, all in the name of so called ‘efficiency.’ … I see you. I’m fighting for you, and I will not give up.”

Video (YouTube)

WASHINGTON – Tonight, hours before the government funding deadline, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) joined Fair Share America, colleagues, and impacted families at a rally to demand Republicans protect healthcare and keep the government open. The rally comes as Republicans threaten to shut down the government and lay off workers rather than passing a budget and coming to work with Democrats to protect families from health insurance hikes and devastating healthcare cuts.

Earlier today, Congresswoman Pressley stood in solidarity with workers and families who would be impacted by the government shutdown.

Without action by Donald Trump and Congress, many of the Affordable Care Act tax credits that help lower the cost of premiums will expire soon and tens of thousands of people in the Massachusetts 7th will see huge premium increases. In the Massachusetts 7^th Congressional District:

• 29,000 people will see their health care costs rise if Republicans let these critical tax credits expire; and
• 35,512 people will lose health coverage because of Republican cuts to MassHealth in the Big Ugly Law and their plot to gut the Affordable Care Act.

A full transcript of the Congresswoman’s remarks is available below, and the full video is available here.

Transcript: Ahead of Shutdown, Pressley Rallies with Advocates, Demands GOP Protect Healthcare & Keep Government Open
U.S. Capitol
September 30, 2025

All right, thank you all for your patience. 

You know, I just keep revisiting King’s words, “Where do we go from here? Chaos or Community?” And this is certainly a moment of chaos, of cruelty, of corruption, but yes, of community. 

And so thank you for your patience while I leaned into that for a moment. 

You know, it’s incredible to be here with all of you. And I would say, you know, in the midst of a fight to free DC and a military occupation, the fact that we’re here is, in and of itself, a radical act. 

So thank you. Thank you for being here tonight. 

And although I don’t know you all personally, I know why you’re here. 

You’re here because you give a damn. You’re here because you give a damn about your neighbor, your fellow worker, and every single person who calls this country home.

I know we keep talking about the impacts of this policy violence on our most vulnerable. But the truth of the matter is, in this moment, we’re all vulnerable. This harm is coming for everyone. 

The moment we find ourselves in is a difficult one. I know my shoulders feel weighted and my heart feels heavy as we stare down this manufactured Republican shutdown. But solidarity is a powerful thing, and each one of you gives me hope. 

We are now hours away from Republicans shutting the government down. 

I want to talk about what that really means, not in headlines or the most palatable talking points, but what that means for people’s lives, for people’s livelihoods. 

When I was first running for office, actually to the city council, many years ago, I often said that I wanted to be a voice for the voiceless, but I quickly learned that that’s not actually my role. 

The truth of the matter is that there’s no such thing as being voiceless. Everyone has a voice, but not every voice is heard, and so what I want to do in this moment is amplify the voices, the voices of our loved ones, of our neighbors, of our co-workers, the voices of the people that I was sent here to represent in the Massachusetts 7th Congressional District.

Of people like a cafeteria worker who works in this very building who was sent home tonight without any hours on their schedule, unclear when and if their next paycheck is coming. 

The voices of folks on a fixed income worried about essential benefits, the voices of families struggling to afford their health care, already facing the threat of losing coverage. 

Donald Trump is as clueless as he is cruel. He doesn’t know what it’s like to be a parent sitting in the parking lot of an emergency room waiting to see if their child’s fever is too severe to manage. 

Donald Trump doesn’t know what it’s like to scramble to get the formula that your baby needs. 

Donald Trump doesn’t know or care about this country beyond his own nose.

But you, people of good faith, gathered here tonight because you give a damn.

Every day the cruelty of this Republican majority reinforces for me that there is no deficit of resource, but there is a deficit of empathy.

In my district, the Massachusetts 7th, 29,000 people will have to pay more for health care. Over 35,000 people will lose their coverage entirely. 

These are not just abstract numbers. 

This is the grandmother in Dorchester who is already skipping meals to pay for her prescriptions. 

This is the young mom in Chelsea who told me she doesn’t know how she’ll afford her child’s asthma inhaler if premiums go up. 

This is the federal contractor in Somerville who’s already living paycheck to paycheck and may not see a paycheck at all. 

I was sworn to Congress in 2019 during the occupant’s first government shutdown. 

I remember how harmful it was to workers, families and businesses alike. 

For weeks, grant funding was withheld, families were denied paychecks, and businesses navigated uncertainty.

That shut down lasted 35 days, but the hardship it caused folks had a ripple effect for months, even years. 

Third-party government contractors, for example, never received the back pay they deserve from that shutdown. That’s custodial staff and cafeteria workers who were never made whole. 

Right now, we’re staring down a Republican-manufactured shutdown that would hurt our economy and my district.

And instead of working with Democrats to do their job—to fund the government and address the health care crisis that they created—Republicans are cheering for a government shutdown and pushing a terrible bill that will push health care out of reach of our families. 

It is a shame. It is cruel and it is avoidable, totally preventable. 

This bad faith budget they put forward doubles down on the hurt and harm of the Big, Ugly Bill that they ran through Congress. 

This is as cruel and unnecessary, again, as it is preventable. 

Republicans control the House, control the Senate and the White House. 

You all keep talking about this “mandate” you have, we’ll do something with it that actually helps people instead of enacting more hurt and more harm. 

Put forward a budget that addresses the health care crisis that you created. 

Democrats are ready to do just that.

Ready to keep the government open. Ready to protect families. And ready to mitigate the harm from this Republican-made crisis. 

I want to be clear, I will not stand by. 

I’m not going quietly into the night while Republicans make our families poor, sicker, hunger and more vulnerable, all in the name of so called “efficiency.” That is not what we’re here to do.

To every family in the Massachusetts 7th and across our nation who would be impacted by a Republican shutdown, know this:

I see you. I’m fighting for you, and I will not give up. 

Thank you, family. Appreciate you.

—

This summer, Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress slashed Medicaid to give tax breaks to billionaires. Now, they are threatening to shut down the government and lay off workers rather than working with Democrats to protect Americans from health insurance premium hikes and Republican health care cuts. Republicans control the House, Senate and White House. If the government shuts down, it’s because they chose to shut it down rather than pass a budget that protects our health care and keeps costs from rising.

The rally was co-sponsored by: 314 Action, Accountable.US/Accountable.NOW, American Federation of Teachers, Americans for Tax Fairness, Care Can’t Wait Action, Care In Action, Coalition on Human Needs, Committee To Protect Health Care, Community Catalyst, Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, Economic Security Project Action, End Citizens United, Fair Share America, Families USA, Federal Unionists Network (FUN) Action, Free & Just, Groundwork Action, Indivisible, League of Conservation Voters, Main Street Alliance, MoveOn, National Women’s Law Center Action Fund, People for the American Way, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Popular Democracy in Action, Progressive Change Institute, Protect Our Care, Public Citizen, Roots Action, SEIU, and Unrig Our Economy.

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