Day Six of Trump’s Shutdown: Donald Trump and Republicans Are on Vacation While Working Families Brace for Massive Health Care Premium Hikes Arrow

It's been nearly a week since Donald Trump's government shutdown began, and over two weeks since the House has voted on a single bill to reopen the government, while working families brace for skyrocketing health care costs. And what is Speaker Mike Johnson doing? He sent Republicans home - again - saying that he "quite literally [has] nothing to negotiate" - seemingly forgetting that he is the Speaker of the House and it's his job to bring something to the negotiating table.

Democrats are waiting for Republicans to join them in lowering costs, protecting health care and reopening the government. But time and again, Trump and Republicans have shot down Democrats' common-sense plan - choosing instead to protect their wealthy donors while working families pay the price of Trump's disastrous economy and devastating health care cuts. And now, Trump and Republicans are refusing to even show up for work - playing hooky instead of preventing health care costs from skyrocketing for 22 million Americans.

In response, DNC Communications Director Rosemary Boeglin released the following statement:

"Donald Trump and Republicans are responsible for shutting down the government amid soaring costs and disappearing jobs - and what are they doing about it? Trump went golfing this weekend while Mike Johnson sent Republicans home on vacation - again. Working families, small businesses, and farmers are being crushed under the weight of Trump's disastrous economy, and now millions of Americans are bracing for Trump's massive cuts to health care. Trump owns this shutdown, and it's past time that Republicans get back to doing their jobs and work with Democrats to lower costs, protect health care, and reopen the government."

While Trump and Republicans skip town, 22 million Americans are at risk of seeing their health insurance premiums skyrocket by an average of 114% - in addition to the more than 15 million Americans who will lose health care because of Trump's billionaire-first budget bill. Trump has no problem spending taxpayer dollars when it helps himself and his wealthy donors, but refuses to do so when it means helping working families - in fact, estimates show that Trump's billionaire tax cuts cost more than 10 times as much as it would to permanently extend ACA tax credits that lower health care costs for millions of Americans.