California lawmakers condemn government shutdown, call for compromise

(FOX40.COM) — California Reps. Kevin Kiley and Josh Harder condemn the federal government shutdown.

“This is just sort of the most basic thing that Congress is supposed to do — keep the government funded,” Rep. Kiley, who represents California’s 3^rd Congressional District, tells Fox40. “The fact that Congress has failed to do that is absolutely unacceptable.”

Rep. Harder, a Democrat representing California’s 9^th

Congressional District, said the impacts of a shutdown will weigh heavily on local families.

“Nobody benefits from a government shutdown, least of all families across San Joaquin County that are wondering whether or not their VA hospital is still going to be open, whether our military service members are still going to get paid,” Rep. Harder said.

Both lawmakers emphasized that Congress must reach a compromise before more Americans suffer the consequences of the political stalemate. Kiley added that this is especially true for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

“If [Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer] wants to talk about potentially making sure that Americans’ health insurance premiums don’t go up, that’s something I’m very interested in stopping as well, so that can be grounds for negotiation,” Kiley explains.

“I think any common ground has to start with trust and making sure that we’re focused on lowering costs for people who really need it,” Harder adds.

A recent poll showed more voters blame Republicans than Democrats for the shutdown. Harder said he blames both parties.

“I think some of the demands that were made in return for keeping the government open were unrealistic and weren’t really designed to produce a compromise,” Kiley acknowledges. “But at this point, let’s stop trying to blame one another.”

In June, President Donald Trump signed the Big Beautiful Bill into law, reducing Medicaid spending by nearly $800 billion and leaving roughly 8 million Americans without health insurance. Democrats, including Josh Harder, vehemently oppose this decision and say Congress must vote to make healthcare more attainable.

The California representatives both agreed that the discrepancies should have been resolved well before the shutdown deadline.

“It’s going to take Democrats giving a little bit and Republicans giving a little bit,” Harder explains. “What I think is unacceptable is passing a budget that doesn’t actually do more to lower health care costs.”

“What we need is just to get something passed that will get the funding we need into the government in order to be able to continue providing critical services,” Kiley adds.

President Donald Trump has also warned of possible federal worker layoffs.

“I don’t think you’re going to see anything along those lines,” Kiley said. “I think that what you’re going to see, unfortunately, because of the way the laws are written when you have a shutdown, is that you’re going to see a large portion of the federal workforce that gets furloughed on a temporary basis until the government reopens, so that is something that is just a sort of manufactured, self inflicted harm.”

“If we have another mass round of firing similar to what happened under DOGE, people are not going to actually receive the services that their taxpayer dollars are paying for, and that’s going to be unacceptable for all of us,” Rep. Harder concludes.

Both Kiley and Harder remain hopeful Congress will reach an agreement soon.