“I promise you, if every member of Congress had to walk one day in the shoes of our dedicated federal workers or parents struggling to get their kids food and keep the lights on, this shutdown wouldn’t have lasted a day.”

“We’re going to keep fighting for you every day, and voting decisively HELL NO, because that is what you deserve from your member of Congress.”

Video (YouTube)

WASHINGTON – Ahead of the House’s vote on Senate Republicans’ funding bill, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), a member of the Democratic Women’s Caucus (DWC), joined her DWC colleagues to condemn Trump and Republicans’ attacks on healthcare and make clear that she will keep up the fight to save healthcare for women, families, and communities across the country. Congresswoman Pressley will vote no on the funding bill, which does nothing to address the Republican healthcare crisis and surge in Affordable Care Act (ACA) premiums families are facing.

In her remarks, Rep. Pressley shared the story of Paula, a constituent from the Massachusetts 7^th, who depends on the ACA to care for her sick husband and who worries that the healthcare coverage that once saved them could soon be out of reach.

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

Transcript: Ahead of Vote on Spending Bill, Pressley, DWC Condemn Trump and Republicans’ Attacks on Healthcare
House of Representatives
November 12, 2025

Good afternoon, grateful for the leadership of our Chair Teresa Leger-Fernandez, grateful to all of my sister colleagues. 

I live by the ethos that the people closest to the pain should be the closest to the power, driving and informing the policymaking. 

And with our storytellers and in my sister colleagues, we demonstrate that because women have always been the closest to the pain. 

We have always disparately borne the brunt of whatever society’s ills or hardships are, policy negligence, policy violence. 

The closest analog we have to this moment is the pandemic, which was wholesale harm. 

We know that there was a she-cession there. There are more women pushed out of the workforce than there were men. So we always bear the brunt, but we are also always on the front line of the fight, the fight to defend everyone and the fight forward and today is certainly no different. 

So we’re all here because we are doing what women do, which is give a damn.

Give a damn about our families, our neighbors, our communities. 

Women always show up to remind us of our shared humanity in moments of consequence, and today, it’s the Democratic women in the House. 

I promise you, if every member of Congress had to walk one day in the shoes of our dedicated federal workers or parents struggling to get their kids food and keep the lights on, this shutdown wouldn’t have lasted a day. 

Our Republican colleagues are as callous as they are clueless about the everyday struggles of people. 

We know that there is no deficit of resource, only a deficit of empathy. 

60 senators wouldn’t have signed off if they knew what it was to walk in our shoes on the false choice between people’s food, their paycheck, and their health care. 

Hungry mothers and fathers wake up every day in this country and scrape together breakfast for their babies while they go without. 

They wait for the bus, hoping that they have enough fare to get on it. 

They go to work and clock hours, sometimes a second or third shift, and still they can’t make ends meet. 

I think Republicans know exactly what they’re doing, but maybe, just maybe, they’re so out of touch they didn’t realize what they were doing when they stole food from hungry families and sent health care costs soaring. 

Do they know what happens when someone opens the mail and sees their insurance is about to double? 

There are no bootstraps to pull on. There are no belts to further tighten. They will go without health insurance. They will put off preventative care, and they will pray that they don’t end up in the ER.

Recently, a constituent in the Massachusetts 7th shared her fears with me, Paula. 

Before the pandemic, Paula and her husband could afford their premiums. It wasn’t easy, but they made it work. 

Then her husband lost his job and their insurance and the Affordable Care Act became their lifeline. It carried them through years of uncertainty, while she took on the role of his caregiver when he became ill. 

Now, she’s worried that the coverage that once saved them could soon be out of reach. 

Each year, she feels that lifeline slipping a little further away, and she’s fearing her family will go bankrupt. 

Our government should provide basic goods and services. 

Government shouldn’t abandon people, and it shouldn’t take the word rug out from hard working people who fought so hard to get an even footing. 

None of this—here’s the rib—is naturally occurring. 

This is the result of intentional, cruel policy choices. But it is not too late.

Today, Republicans can commit to actually addressing this health care crisis that they created. 

Today, Republicans can tell the White House to stop playing games with people’s lives, with basic healthcare for children and families, and we will not let up. 

Health care is not a nice-to-have. It is a must-have. It is a human right.

To each of my constituents, each of our neighbors, to each of our dedicated staff members, to the federal workers who are reeling from the uncertainty and cruelty of all of this: 

The hurt and harm you are experiencing is undeniable, and so too was this moment 100% preventable.

And that’s what makes it so unconscionable. We’re going to keep fighting for you every day, and voting decisively HELL NO, because that is what you deserve from your member of Congress. 

—

Amid the Republican-manufactured government shutdown, Rep. Pressley has continued to fight to defend healthcare, reopen the government, and protect federal workers and the essential services they provide.

• Rep. Pressley slammed Republicans for harming families across America by shutting down the government, unlawfully cutting food assistance, and jacking up healthcare costs. Congresswoman Pressley also questioned witnesses about the harmful, misleading stereotypes pushed by Republicans about who relies on federal programs like the Affordable Care Act, SNAP, and Medicaid.
• Rep. Pressley held an emergency convening and press conference with SNAP-dependent food retailers to make plain how the Trump-Republican shutdown and ongoing uncertainty over November SNAP benefits is harming Massachusetts families and our local economy.
• Rep. Pressley and the Democratic Women’s Caucus (DWC) convened to demand Donald Trump fund SNAP, with the authority and money he has readily available, to keep 42 million people in America fed—63% of whom are women and over 1 million of whom reside in Massachusetts.
• Rep. Pressley joined Reps. Jahana Hayes, Angie Craig, and 211 House Democrats on a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to urge the agency to use contingency reserve dollars to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) during the government shutdown. 
• Rep. Pressley joined Senator Ed Markey and leaders from Massachusetts food banks to sound the alarm on the growing crisis of food insecurity under the Republican government shutdown and its impact on Massachusetts families.
• Rep. Pressley urged National Grid and Eversource to issue an immediate moratorium on utility shutoffs for households impacted by the government shutdown, including federal workers, federal contractors, and the people who depend on them.
  • Following the Congresswoman’s letter, National Grid of Massachusetts announced specific support and a payment plan opportunity for federal employees, contractors, and active military personnel in Massachusetts who are impacted by the government shutdown and concerned about paying their energy bill.
• Rep. Pressley participated in a House Steering and Policy Committee hearing in which she slammed Republicans for raising healthcare costs for families across the country and shutting down the government instead of addressing the healthcare crisis they created.
• Rep. Pressley joined her colleagues on the Democratic Women’s Caucus to call attention to the impacts of the Republican-manufactured health care crisis and government shutdown on women, families, and workers in the Massachusetts 7^th and across the country.
• Rep. Pressley issued a statement condemning Republicans after they chose to shut down the government rather than work with Democrats to protect families and save healthcare for millions.
• Just days into the government shutdown, Rep. Pressley held an emergency convening in Boston to highlight the harm of the shutdown to MA-07 constituents – federal workers, patients, advocates, and more.
• Amid government shutdown, Rep. Pressley and Senator Tina Smith reintroduced bill to provide back pay for federal contract workers, including low-wage food service and janitorial staff.
• Just hours before the Republicans shut down the government, Rep. Pressley rallied with advocates, colleagues, and impacted folks to demand Republicans protect healthcare and keep the government open
• Congresswoman Pressley stood in solidarity with workers and families who would be impacted by the government shutdown.
• Rep. Pressley also joined an all-day event with House Democrats to hold the line against Trump and Republicans’ efforts to rip away healthcare from millions of Americans.

###