‘You lose leverage, you lose this country’: Newsom presses Dems to stand firm on shutdown

[Thiệu Ngô]

The California governor’s remarks come amid a federal government shutdown that has left Capitol Hill in a stand-off.

By Juliann Ventura

Gavin Newsom urged Democrats to stand firm amid the government shutdown Friday, saying, “You lose leverage, you lose this country.”

“You take Donald Trump at his word? Come on. No one is that naive,” the California governor told reporters when asked about whether Democrats should sign onto a continuing resolution in hopes that Republicans are acting in good faith. But, he noted, “Democrats want to compromise” and said Republicans — Trump, in particular — “are not serious people.”

Newsom’s remarks at a press conference in Berkeley come amid a federal government shutdown that has left Capitol Hill in a stand-off, with Democrats taking aim at Republicans over rising health care costs and demanding an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year.

Trump, alongside Capitol Hill colleagues like Speaker Mike Johnson, has accused Democrats of allowing undocumented immigrants to access Medicaid, arguing Democrats “want to destroy health care in America by giving it to millions and millions of illegal aliens.” The White House has called out Newsom’s California, specifically, saying it has a “loophole” for federal dollars to pay for that coverage. California uses state tax revenue to fund its public health care program for undocumented residents.

“He’s lying. Speaker Johnson’s lying. They’re lying to the American people,” said Newsom, a likely presidential contender in 2028. When asked about Medi-Cal, California’s version of Medicaid, he said that “states have the ability to do what states do, independent of the federal contributions.”

“I guess they’re trying to connect their displeasure with what California and many other states do with state resources in this space,” Newsom said, adding, “It’s a separate topic, and has nothing to do with their assertions in relationship to the government shutdown.”

Of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who have taken a confrontational approach throughout the impasse, Newsom said he applauded “their efforts in standing firm and pushing back against the lies that are being perpetuated by this administration.”