‘This Shutdown Was Entirely Preventable,’ Says Congressman Huffman
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Hello,
It’s been over a week since Republicans chose to shut down the government instead of working with Democrats to save health care – and it’s already cost the country $1.2 billion. With no end in sight, the shutdown is spreading chaos across the country.
What’s happening right now:
Republicans currently control the House, Senate, and White House – they are in power, and they are responsible for this government shutdown. Instead of returning to Washington to address this crisis, they stayed home and are threatening to cancel yet another week of work in D.C., further prolonging this disaster.
Meanwhile, working Americans are bearing the brunt of this shutdown. While they suffer, Trump is using the dysfunction to his advantage: he’s clawing back funding for projects in communities across the U.S. including ours, weaponizing the National Guard against more Democratic states and cities, and are threatening federal employees with even more mass layoffs and withholding the backpay they deserve. It’s shameful and going to seriously hurt countless people.
Where we stand:
For weeks, I’ve joined other House Democrats in demanding that Trump and Republicans come to the table and negotiate a bipartisan deal that:
- Prevents health care premiums from skyrocketing
- Restores and protects lifesaving coverage for millions of Americans
- Reopens the government and restores critical services
This shutdown was entirely preventable. With Republicans in control of the government, they have the power and the responsibility to put an end to this crisis. But instead, they have doubled down on stripping affordable care from millions and letting health care premiums go through the roof. But we refuse to bend to their out-of-whack agenda.
Democrats are willing to meet anywhere, anytime. Republican leadership must end their infighting and sit down with us to negotiate a bipartisan government funding agreement.
But as the shutdown continues, we’ve taken steps to ensure all of my offices will remain OPEN and available to constituents—because that’s our job.
→ You can contact a member of our staff by calling our offices HERE.
→ You can find helpful resources and answers to frequently asked questions by visiting our 2025 Federal Government Shutdown webpage HERE.
→ And, if you are being directly impacted by the government shutdown and are from California’s 2nd Congressional District: We would like to hear your story! Please fill out the form HERE.
And please don’t forget: whether it’s help working with a federal agency, or providing information about legislation and policy, my staff and I are here to help – you can fill out this form on my website.
To keep up with the work I am doing as your representative, please subscribe to my newsletter, and follow me on Bluesky, Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, and Threads.
Thank you, and stay well,
Jared Huffman
Member of Congress
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It’s funny to me that Huffman is a resident of Santa Clara! And the infighting has got really old . Both party’s suck worse then they should.
How do you know when Jerod Huffman is lying? Whenever he opens his mouth, writes down his thoughts in a press release, or is in not representing the people of his district.
What is driving up health-care costs? The Democrats who want free health-care for illegals, free health-care for deadbeats and drug addicts who refuse to do a single thing to help themselves at the expense of actual working citizens who deserve better.
Who put an almost two trillion dollar price on keeping the government open? Huffman and his far left lunatic colleagues.
Huffman and his fellow Democrats in congress are an embarrassment and disgrace to California and a danger to America. The out of control blue states keep getting more violent every day and are the cause of the mass numbers of criminals who flooded the country who cause this violence. Yet people keep voting for these failures over and over. The definition of insanity is doing the same stupid stuff over and over expecting a different result. Democrats have failed every time. That will never change.
The media is 80% pro Democrat. What you hear on American news outlets is completely bias to the Republican agenda. So why would you vote for Republicans? You know they are evil, right?
But the lies are just that. Lies. The truth is out there. Republicans are a better choice for Americans. Like you have been lied too, the Republicans are not the 1%. President Trump is not owned by anyone, especially Puten, FFS. White Christian Nationalist do not exist.
Jared is owned by his big money liberal SF and Marin and Napa pals. They need our water. He needs their money.
Another definition of insanity is repeating lies over and over in the hopes they’ll become true.
Except for reimbursing hospitals for emergency room visits and providing prenatal care, Federal funds are not used to provide healthcare for undocumented immigrants.
Crime rates have also been falling for the past several years.
And available data shows that undocumented immigrants are less likely to commit serious crimes than U.S. citizens.
Is this a half truth, at best…???
“Federal funds are not used to provide healthcare for undocumented immigrants….”
…wait for it…
…”Except for reimbursing hospitals for emergency room visits and providing prenatal care.”…
Because, OBVIOUSLY, the WHOLE TRUTH is…
Federal funds ARE used to provide healthcare for undocumented immigrants, Jebs…!!!
And less likely does not mean unlikely…
I’m not a fan of either party…I’m a fan of common sense and cooperation. But…It doesn’t matter which medical provider is getting paid for services to illegal immigrants…many millions are still getting paid. When I go to the emergency room I have to pay for it…plus I have to help pay for those reimbursements for care proved to illegal immigrants.
But that’s not really the issue. Those things are still on the table for negotiations if they’d pass the CR (like the Dems have been willing to do 13 times recently, but suddenly not now). They chose a bad hill to die on with this one.
I’m like you, “I’m not a fan of either party…”
I do my best to read up on online about things that are important to me. Yes, I was born last century. the tradition is for the two sides is to express their points and work towards a solution..
Well said. Thank you
Agreed! Both parties are pretty disappointing. The average citizen seems to be abandoned by our government.
The emotional manipulation is real with ol’ Huffy Huffman.
Let’s be clear: this is a filibuster. The GOP passed a clean CR in the House. But over in the Senate, it’s Democrats blocking it unless they get to claw back federal funding for medical coverage for non-citizens, the exact thing Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” cut.
Huffman is banking on low IQ and that people won’t bother to understand how a filibuster works. The CR has failed in the Senate seven times because Dems won’t budge unless their subsidy demands for illegals are met.
Not hard to figure out what’s happening here. Huffman and his friends are trying to rewrite the shutdown story and undo Trump’s previous accomplishments.
…That headline reminded me of another “shutdown” that never needed to happen, schools, businesses, borders, remember that? 🧐
If y’all are going to use trauma to garner attention let’s be honest about who’s holding the match.
(Oh, and how ’bout that Israeli peace deal and hostage release? Where is the genocide crowd now? 🫨 It’s highly amusing to watch Trump and his no-nonsense team undo the disasters fomented by sleepy Biden and drunk Harris to absolute crickets from the Palestinian flag-waving street performers – who by their silence are showing their true colors. )
Perfectly said
I can remember when I never even gave a thought about political parties when I voted. I voted for competence and ideas.
The Right and the Left stayed out of the middle of the road to avoid clashing and crashing, but at least they stayed on the road, and progress continued. Now, the parties are so far Right and Left that they are in the gutter, and they are dragging America to a complete stop along with them.
I know… Blah, blah, blah, it’s all Their fault. Choose the hill that you want to die on.
Huffman is a loser… Saying that the Trump Government was “avoidable” is truly remarkable…
Huffman is how we got here in the first place…
I still can’t understand how a Fossil and a closet Republican like Biden managed to unseat Trump at all, but choosing that VP was the end of sensibility for everyone…
It’s supposed to be a Democracy, with separation of church and State, but we are now a Nazified Theocracy, with a deranged King fucking up everything…
The world reels and cowers, shocked that 500 Billionaires now own everything and control space itself…
Thanks to impotent Democrats and weak losers like Huffman, everyone will enjoy the loss of everything, and descend into the Dystopian Future you all deserve, for not voting in the first place…
Yes, believing the right/left paradigm is leading us to dystopia …
How can he blame republicans when democrats are the ones that want us to pay for healthcare for illegals. I paid for my family’s healthcare for years and it wasn’t cheap but we had it and I don’t want to pay for someone else especially illegals.
“…undocumented immigrants have never been eligible for full Medicaid coverage. In fact, even many lawfully present immigrants are not eligible for Medicaid. Undocumented immigrants have also never been eligible for premium tax credits to purchase Marketplace plans, and cannot even purchase a private plan on the Marketplace with their own money.” https://ccf.georgetown.edu/2025/10/02/factchecking-on-medicaid-coverage-for-immigrants-government-shutdown-edition/
Not so fast, Jebs…!!!
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/california-1st-state-offer-health-insurance-undocumented-immigrants/story?id=105986377#:~:text=About%2050%25%20of%20undocumented%20immigrant%20adults%20in,as%20facing%20eligibility%20restrictions%20for%20federal%20programs.
California becomes first state to offer health insurance to all undocumented immigrants
About 700,000 adults between ages 26 and 49 will be eligible as of Jan. 1
Continued…
“California will welcome the new year by becoming the first state to offer health insurance for all undocumented immigrants.
➡️Starting Jan. 1, all undocumented immigrants, regardless of age, will qualify for Medi-Cal, California’s version of the federal Medicaid program for people with low incomes.⬅️
Previously, undocumented immigrants were not qualified to receive comprehensive health insurance but were allowed to receive emergency and pregnancy-related services under Medi-Cal as long as they met eligibility requirements, including income limits and California residency in 2014.
(MORE: Biden announces plan to expand health care coverage for DACA recipients
In 2015, undocumented children were able to join Medi-Cal under a bill signed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown. In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law an expansion of full-scope Medi-Cal access for young adults ages 19 through 25, regardless of citizenship or immigration status. Access was then further expanded to allow older adults aged 50 and older to receive full benefits, also regardless of immigration status.)
The final expansion going into effect Jan. 1 will make approximately 700,000 undocumented residents between ages 26 and 49 eligible for full coverage, according to California State Sen. María Elena Durazo.”
Illegals are not “eligible” technically, except for emergency care of course which still costs billions, but the reimbursement to the state for Medicaid patients has been done in a way that the higher a percentage of medicaid patient leads to a higher taxing of health insurance for all users. So if California counts illegal immigrants as receiving MediCal, the state simply gets more money taxing the health insurance companies and providers for doing it. Then claimed matching funds from the feds too.
Saying that the states don’t want to entitle illegal immigrants is disingenuous because what they want is to farm illegal immigrants to money to increase the money the can get. “The CBO analysis assumes that at least some states, deterred by reduced federal payments for their Medicaid programs, would stop offering their state-funded health programs to immigrants without lawful immigration status, leaving more than 1 million of them uninsured.” But still call the idea that states want to pay medicaid to illegal immigrants a falsehood because “But those individuals would not come from the Medicaid program.” Hello? Just because it doesn’t come from the medicaid pot of money doesn’t mean it doesn’t cost money.
Spin, spin, spin.
https://www.factcheck.org/2025/05/a-false-claim-about-illegal-immigration-and-medicaid/
Emergency rooms will treat anyone who shows up in need of care.
If that person is unable to pay, the Federal Government covers that cost.
Turning someone away from emergency medical treatment because of their immigration status or ability to pay is not only inhumane, it’s illegal.
When states add undocumented immigrants to the state healthcare system- Medi-Cal in our case, that is paid for out of the state’s general fund.
Those funds are not matched by the Federal Government.
And your point being? Oh yes, to turn the debate on its ear by making people look like they said things they never said. I never said that a person should be turn away from a hospital. It’s too late then to worry about money. They should have been turned away at the border. Barring that, returned when any government official found them where they were not legally supposed to be.
And the State got the money you say is fromo the general fund by adding illegal immigrants to the rolls and taxing providers for them then upping the matching funds from the Federal government. Those providers then turn around and have everyone else cover the expense they should have never had to pay. That would have never been in the general fund if California hadn’t added them to the medicaid rolls unilaterally and allowed them to take money from everyone else.
Hello? Sounds like padding the expense account.
My point is that the Republicans’ claim that they are taking a stand against using Federal funds to provide healthcare to undocumented immigrants is a load of crock.
Keep it shut down.
If they are still removing federal income tax from our paychecks then is it really shutdown at all?
/sarc
Paperback Huffer looks so out of place with that American flag behind him. Just another rando suit from Marin County grifting away and stealing our rural country culture and aina for his own tribe of the Cement People.
Huffman is a shameless liar…
The Democrats have lost The House, The Senate, AND, The Whitehouse…
But if the Democrats in the Senate want to shut the government down over not getting their way and over not having their demands met in the budget, they can refuse to vote in favor of it, and can still bring the government to it’s knees…
And that’s what they’ve despicably done…
It’s not the Republicans that are holding things up, it’s the Democrats in the Senate, just a few of which are necessary for the Republicans to accumulate 60 votes, needed in order to pass the CR…
That’s why Huffman says…
“But we refuse to bend to their out-of-whack agenda.”
That proves it’s the Democrats that are holding things up, and bringing our government to it’s knees..
It’s the Democrats voting no, that are responsible for the government shutdown…
The Democrats have lost everything, but that doesn’t mean they can’t scuttle the ship…
So that’s what they are doing, since it’s all the power they have left…
They think shutting down our government it will make the Republicans look bad, not them…
But they must bank that they can fool American People with their destructive ruse…
As if the Democrat’s political strategy has been anything more than a complete failure of late…
The American People are sick of them…
The useless Democrats have lost everything, so, as a last resort, they are dragging their feet, and throwing cogs in the wheel, for all they are worth…
It’s fucking pathetic…
The Democrats are the ones stinking up the place with their useless, dead and decaying weight…
That much is crystal clear…
And then they have the gall to blame everyone but themselves…
What a bunch of absolute hypocrites…
It doesn’t get any more decrepit and disgusting than that…
The dim dems of today are NOT the bright Democrats I grew up proudly voting for … that shipped sadly sailed when Obama signed NDAA 2012.
#alwaysfollowthemoney
I dunno. I have to admit: today’s headlines indicate that “the Donald” seems to be able to make progress where a whole lot of others have not been able to do so…including our esteemed congressman.
Huffman is not esteemed…
He’s just steamed…
LOL
Of course it was preventable. But MAGA is committed to whatever it is committed to, which appears to be the destruction of America. Following a madman with dreams of grandure while half our citizens have no healthcare. America the beautiful, the prosperous, the generous has become the butt of the joke.
Thank you Mr. Huffman for holding the line
What would have prevented it would have been if legislators salaries had been stopped too as non-essential. Then no amount of political hay making would have kept them from finding a compromise to avoid the shut down.
Awesome, you pay for La Familia De Sancho’s medical bills.
As usual, huffpuff demonstrates his lack of fiscal responsibility and squad like attitude.
Well….You probably should not have handed the election to him. Somehow it’s their fault for doing exactly what they said they would. Huffman is a liar for the oligarchs who now control the DEM party. I’m sorry it’s become like this but let’s realize the truth. So we can proceed with better results. Whether you like Bernie or not you must see what Hilary and the DNC did to cheat and exclude him- and anybody liking his ideas. They alienated that substantial block of voters and then doubled down on their arrogance by denying a primary race to hide Biden s mental demise. Then they suddenly stuck us with Word-Salad Kamala and began the fear hype of ” vote for us or it’s fascism”. The DEM party still won’t recognize that they abandoned the working class. Or that they are run by their mega-wealthy mega-donors…just like the REP party! And Huffman is a mouthpiece for the wealthy elite…just like French Laundry Newsom, Pelosi, etc etc. There is no hope in that party as it presently exists. Reform Mr Huffman!! Reform your party! That’s the only thing worth hearing from you….
Yep, the DNC did to Bernie for Hilary like the RNC did to Ron Paul for Romney. Incredible all around, although completely on target for the uniparty.
Great comment at large 👏
Thank you for recognizing my comment as not an endorsement of the REPs. They also are beholden to their mega-wealthy masters. I think we are truly on our own at this point…I only hope for a few decent candidates to be able to cut through this mess. But mostly the people need to wake tfu and take it back- from BOTH corrupted parties. Release the Epstein Files!!
He is not wrong.
Even CNN agrees that the party who refuses to pass a CR is at fault.
Glad he is finally admitting that he is wrong.
IMHO:
There is a lot more ‘wrong’ with the US health care ‘system’ rather than this budget.
Meanwhile:
So, what happened in 2016 ??? Let me guess…
I believe this had more to do with the goalposts that are subsidies.
“Hello,”
“It’s been over a week since [Democrats] chose to shut down the government instead of working with [Republicans]…”
There, fixed it…
Nutshell
What a good boy Huffman is. Yes, the shutdown was preventable, for the health care provisions expire on Dec. 31, giving two full months to negotiate. But no, the Dems have to make it a crisis, and they have! BTW, budgets need 60 votes in the Senate, and the Dems who are afraid to compromise won’t budge, cause the DNC will shut off their campaign funds. But Empty Eye Huffman follows the rules, give him a liver snap…
https://www.cato.org/blog/six-reasons-not-extend-enhanced-obamacare-subsidies
Funds the well-off. The base Obamacare subsidy caps what households earning below 400 percent of the federal poverty line pay for a benchmark marketplace health plan. The temporarily expanded subsidies eliminated the 400-percent-of-poverty cap, allowing some Americans with incomes of almost $600,000 to qualify for government benefits. Roughly one-third of the boosted subsidies go to people with incomes above 400 percent of the poverty level. The expansion also cut the required contribution percentages across the board, reducing or eliminating enrollees’ out-of-pocket costs.
At the center of the government shutdown is a disagreement over whether to extend a temporary pandemic-era expansion of the Affordable Care Act’s premium tax credits. These subsidies cover health insurance premiums for the roughly 7 percent of Americans who use the government-run Obamacare insurance marketplace. Sold as a temporary boost during the COVID-19 pandemic, the subsidies are costly, fraud-prone, and primarily pad insurance companies’ profits.
Conclusion
Biden’s pandemic-era Obamacare premium subsidies were sold as temporary relief but have instead produced fraud, phantom enrollees, and subsidies for wealthy taxpayers who don’t need them. The program funnels billions of taxpayer dollars to insurers and middlemen while distorting the individual market and doing little to expand meaningful access to care. Congress can stand up to the insurance industry by letting these temporary COVID-era subsidies expire as scheduled. Or better yet, repeal them entirely. The enhanced subsidies are a costly reminder of how temporary government programs can become billion-dollar permanent entitlements.
Oh hahah! I see those downvotes and have to wonder: are they from people who are truly illiterate, or just willfully obtuse and divisive? Even after you spelled out the impasse in plain English, they still don’t seem to grasp what a budget actually means.
Newsflash: we’re running a multi-trillion-dollar deficit. At some point, somebody has to make hard choices. We can’t just keep having – or giving away – everything we want forever.
IMHO: Likely ‘Newsomites…’
>”Newsflash: we’re running a multi-trillion-dollar deficit.”
Hey, No worries. We will just print more money !
somehow I doubt your ability to comprehend international trade/economics. The government is not a business nor should it be run like one. And what you you want to be cruel to poor people in order to somehow balance a multi trillion dollar deficit by cutting social programs, giving money to nepotistic South African Nazis, and give more money to the military?
Also Obama sucked ass imo and I thought that was old news…doesn’t excuse the current administrations dumbass economics.
every single pro trump employer or co worker as someone who works in “the real world “ has mysteriously shut the the fuck up about his brilliant economic policies now that they are feeling it.
Here’s a thought: maybe you don’t understand: debt has limits, even for a sovereign nation. The government “isn’t a business,” yet it still somehow runs out of money. Funny how that works….You scream “cruelty,” but facts don’t care about your feelings: you can’t balance a budget by moral outrage alone. And when our outflow outpaces the income by trillions, it’s not “cruelty” to tap the brakes! It’s fucking logic. We can’t deem everything as necessary. The new normal is citizens first, not drag parades in Brazil. And as for that bizarre line about “nepotistic South African Nazis?”… I’m going to need a flowchart…
I am going with the second option.
We are watching an impressive amount of cognitive dissonance.
Cannot wait to see the spin “Trump is a Nazi for ending the war in Gaza because _________”
…because Orange Man Bad!!!
There- finished it for them! Lol
”OMB…!!!”…
Congressman, I do hope that someone from your Eureka office is monitoring comments, feedback, to your column.
It is necessary, I am sure, to constantly compartmentalize when one is in your position.
It would be hard, impossible, to spend time with your family, if you could not set aside work.
Your constituents, however, cannot so easily separate the ernest congressman, explaining how he is helping during the shutdown, from the same person who defended financing murder in the middle East.
A house divided cannot stand.h
Your base is divided by your financial support of Netanyahu.
Until that divide is healed, you are ineffectual.
Please vote to stop financing the murder in Gaza.
Require the Israelis to withdraw to the 1947 map.
Damn, that statement is not just over the line, it’s either deeply misinformed or deliberately provocative. The 1947 map was a proposal, not a border. Arab leaders rejected it, started a war, and then lost. You can’t say “go back to 1947” when it was your side that burned the deal on day one! WTF.
chat bot chimes in : Withdraw to the 1947 Map”?
That’s not just a bad take — it’s a nonstarter historically and legally:
There’s no sovereign precedent for a 1947 “border” — it was a proposal, not a recognized international border.
Demanding Israel “withdraw” to that map is like demanding the U.S. “return” California to Mexico — after rejecting a treaty and starting a war.
Also: nobody who pushes this 1947 idea ever asks Egypt to give Gaza back, even though they controlled it for 19 years and never offered Palestinians a state then either.
Who Actually Encroached?
Jews legally purchased land under the Ottomans and later the British Mandate.
In 1948, Arab militias and neighboring Arab countries invaded the new Israeli state.
In 1967, another multi-front war started — and Israel captured Gaza from Egypt and the West Bank from Jordan.
So yeah, history shows Arab forces encroached and initiated every major conflict — often rejecting peace deals that would’ve given them their own state.