On the 36th day of the ongoing federal government shutdown, President Donald Trump renewed his appeal to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Democratic lawmakers to act swiftly to reopen government operations. Speaking at the American Business Forum in Miami, the president urged congressional Democrats to back a clean Continuing Resolution (CR) previously approved by the House, emphasizing that it contained “zero strings attached.”
“It’s time for Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrat Congress to stop playing games with the people’s lives and to pass a clean funding bill that they’ve done 30 times before, and to reopen government immediately. Just reopen it,” Trump stated during his remarks.
The president explained that the proposed measure would maintain federal funding at 2024 levels—levels originally supported by then-President Joe Biden and the Democratic majority. However, the bill has faced repeated opposition in the Senate, with Democrats voting against it 14 times. Their stance, according to Trump, is tied to efforts to restore taxpayer-funded health benefits for noncitizens and to extend certain healthcare subsidies scheduled to expire at the end of the year.
Earlier in his address, Trump accused Democrats of using the shutdown as political leverage, arguing that the prolonged standoff is disrupting vital services across the country. “They’re demanding free health care for illegal aliens that just came into our country from prisons and from mental institutions and drug dealers and drug addicts, and they want to give them $1.5 trillion in giveaways that would turbocharge rapid inflation again,” he said.
With millions of Americans affected, the shutdown’s impact has spread through multiple sectors—from federal workers missing paychecks to families losing access to essential programs. “Meanwhile, the radical left Democrats are causing millions of Americans who depend on food stamps to go without benefits. They’re forcing federal workers to go without paychecks, and they’re stranding thousands of travelers at the airports,” Trump added.
As the stalemate deepens, the administration continues pressing for immediate passage of the clean CR, positioning it as a necessary step to restore stability and end the disruptions affecting households nationwide.