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Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, tore into the Democratic Party during House GOP leaders’ press conference on Day 20 of the government shutdown after anti-Trump protests swept the country over the weekend.
He blasted the left’s embrace of the “No Kings” rallies, where millions of people across the U.S. took to city streets to protest President Donald Trump.
“This is the dying breaths of a bankrupt party, in my humble opinion, all too happy to shut down the government,” Roy said during the press conference Monday.
He and House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris, R-Md., joined House GOP leaders’ daily shutdown press conference in a show of unity across the Republican conference.
GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN 101: WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE, HERE’S WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
Rep. Chip Roy speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Oct. 20, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
“No one disputes one obvious fact: It is Democrats who have chosen not to fund government. We can at least establish that truth, right? It is, in fact, the truth. And the question is, why?” Roy said.
“And you saw it on Saturday — it was basically for a political rally, a rally for cover for [Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.], who’s in his own political battle in New York,” he added in reference to Republican accusations that left-wing leaders are kowtowing to Democrats’ progressive base.
He continued, “That’s the truth. And the irony of this is, this ‘No Kings’ rally. What are we actually talking about? I mean, it wasn’t President Trump, but Democrats who tried to make us take a shot or lose our job. It wasn’t President Trump, but Democrats who were burning our cities to the ground in 2020 and attacking police officers.”
Protesters gather in Washington, D.C., for the “No Kings” protest on Oct. 18. (Emma Woodhead/Fox News Digital)
Republican leaders spent last week hammering Democrats who planned to participate in Saturday’s “No Kings” rallies, including Schumer.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., during his portion of the press conference, made a plea to Schumer to accept the GOP’s federal funding bill now that the protests were over.
“Now that Democrats have had their protest and publicity stunts, I just pray that they come to their senses and end this shutdown and reopen the government this week. Republicans are waiting. The American people are waiting,” Johnson said.
SCREAMING MATCH ERUPTS BETWEEN HAKEEM JEFFRIES, MIKE LAWLER AS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN CHAOS CONTINUES
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer walk to speak to members of the media following a meeting at the White House in Washington, Sept. 29, 2025. (Annabelle Gordon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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The House passed a bill to keep the federal government funded at current levels through Nov. 21 — called a continuing resolution (CR) — mostly along party lines last month.
It’s since failed 10 times in the Senate, with a majority of Democrats rejecting any spending deal that does not also include an extension of COVID-19 pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies that will expire at the end of this year without congressional action.
The ongoing government shutdown is now the third-longest in history.
