October 03, 2025 03:00 PM UTC

Health Care, Epstein Impasses Shut Down House For Another Week

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• by: Colorado Pols

Politico reports that despite an ongoing government shutdown and a backlog of pressing business, the U.S. House will not do anything next week:

Johnson said at a news conference earlier Friday that “the House will come back into session and do its work as soon as Chuck Schumer allows us to reopen the government,” referring to the top Senate Democrat.

Also speaking ahead of the announcement, House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole said he agreed with an argument House GOP leaders have been making in private: “Why would we come back to just come back?” Doing so, he added, would be “negotiating against yourself.”

“Right now, we’re in a situation where, Democrats are trying to blackmail the Republicans into doing something they’re not prepared to do at this point,” Cole said of Democrats’ demands for additional concessions on health care…

This latest risky move by House Speaker Mike Johnson comes as new polling shows clearly that voters did not buy the ridiculous smokescreen that this was a fight about “health care for illegal immigrants,” and are holding Republicans squarely responsible for the shutdown’s consequences. The public overwhelmingly supports restoring the health insurance tax credits that were cut in the federal budget bill, a fix Republicans like Rep. Jeff Hurd claim to support.

But as readers know, there’s another motive lurking:

The extended recess stands to delay the swearing-in of Rep-elect. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who is expected to be the final required signature on a discharge petition for a bill forcing Justice Department disclosure of files related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. [Pols emphasis]

Every day the government stays shut down keeps Jeffrey Epstein out of the headlines where Donald Trump likes him.

With their false arguments about the shutdown having fallen flat, public opinion solidly against them, and their ulterior motives increasingly plain, this is the moment for Republicans to accept that they can’t simply run roughshod over minority votes they need to keep their own administration open for business. This is about Republicans attempting to bully their way around their insufficient numbers, to achieve a “victory” over Democrats that will further dim the political prospects of vulnerable Republicans like Colorado’s Rep. Gabe Evans.

The real question is, how much damage are Republicans willing to do to themselves to spite the other side?

We’re all going to find out together.