Speaker Johnson says Schumer handed Trump ‘the keys to the kingdom’ with shutdown

President Trump is using his executive authority to direct the harshest impacts of the government shutdown toward Democratic priorities, and Republicans say it’s the Democrats’ fault. 

“This is Chuck Schumer’s decision, is to hand … the keys to the kingdom to the president,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, said Thursday as he and his leadership team held a press conference to mark Day 2 of what they call the Schumer Shutdown. 

Republicans blame Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York for the closure because his caucus is blocking the House-passed stopgap bill to fund the government through Nov. 21. 

Mr. Schumer and congressional Democrats want to extend a pandemic-era expansion of Obamacare subsidies set to expire this year and add other priorities to the government funding extension. They say Mr. Trump and Republicans are to blame for the shutdown because they refuse to have a bipartisan negotiation. 

“Donald Trump, instead of acting like an adult — he’s the most immature president we have ever had — instead of doing something to stop the health care crisis, is threatening to hurt countless hardworking Americans,” Mr. Schumer said in floor remarks Wednesday, citing the president’s comments that he can “do things during the shutdown that are irreversible” and cut programs that Democrats like. 

Mr. Schumer said the president “is using the American people as pawns, threatening pain on the country as blackmail,” but Democrats won’t be intimidated and “the American people see through those tactics.” 

Mr. Trump has made no secret of the fact that he and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought will use the shutdown — in which the executive branch has more authority over spending than usual because congressional appropriations have lapsed — to lay off federal workers and gut government programs that Democrats prioritize. 

“I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent,” Mr. Trump posted on social media on Thursday. “I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity. They are not stupid people, so maybe this is their way of wanting to, quietly and quickly, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” 

Two hours after the president’s post, Mr. Johnson addressed reporters and said neither Mr. Trump nor Mr. Vought takes pleasure in such cost-cutting moves. He said the president “pleaded” with Mr. Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, also of New York, to keep the government open during their Oval Office meeting on Monday. 

“Democrats are the ones who have decided to inflict the pain, not the president,” the speaker said. 

Mr. Vought announced on Wednesday, the first day of the shutdown, that he canceled funding for “nearly $8 billion in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda.” The projects that will lose funding are spread across 16 states, all represented by Democratic senators. 

The budget director also put $18 billion appropriated for the Hudson tunnel and the Second Avenue subway projects in New York City on hold “to ensure funding is not flowing based on unconstitutional DEI principles.”

Mr. Schumer and Mr. Jeffries, who are both from Brooklyn, said the administration of Mr. Trump, who is from Queens, is trying to enact “revenge” while harming New York and New Jersey commuters such as nurses, teachers and first responders.

“Choking off these projects out of spite will damage America’s competitiveness and cost working families dearly,” they said.

Mr. Johnson said he doesn’t view the White House’s moves as political targeting, but rather prioritizing limited resources during a shutdown. 

“What would any OMB director do under any president? They’re going to look to see for the administration’s priorities first and ensure that those are funded,” he said. 

Mr. Jeffries said at a press conference on Wednesday that the Trump administration’s cuts and plans for mass firings are a continuation of what it’s been doing all year. 

“All this talk that we see right now, as if it has anything to do with the shutdown that Republicans have caused?” he said. “No, it’s their ideology. Cruelty is the point when it comes to the Republican Party.”