Rep. Neguse: “Democrats don't work for Donald Trump. We work for the American people.”
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September 30, 2025
Washington, D.C. — As President Trump drives America closer to a government shutdown, Colorado Congressman Joe Neguse (CO-02) joined MSNBC’s Morning Joe to underscore the stakes should Congressional Republicans decide to continue down this reckless path.
JONATHAN LEMIRE, MSNBC HOST: Let’s bring in Assistant Democratic Leader, Congressman Joe Neguse of Colorado. Congressman, thank you so much for joining us. We have a lot to get to with you, including this government shutdown now just a few hours away. But first, is your reactions to what you heard there for the President of the United States regarding this meeting with military leadership and the situation in the Middle East?
REP. JOE NEGUSE: Well, good morning. It's great to be with you. First and foremost, I would challenge anyone to make sense of the rantings and the ravings that you just heard from the President of the United States on the front lawn of the White House. These are not serious people tweeting out, you know, offensive videos last night on Truth Social. Nonsensical statements that he's making from the front lawn of the White House, literally, as he and Republicans bring the government towards the brink of a government shutdown. It is absurd and laughable and unfortunately has profound and tragic consequences for the country. And I just think that it's important for all of us to kind of acknowledge what we see with our own eyes. This is absurd activity from the President of the United States, and House Democrats certainly aren't going to tolerate it.
LEMIRE: Yeah. Congressman, there were a few words there we had to look up. Let's shift now to the shutdown. Now, just a few hours, you know, a few hours away, talks with Democratic Leaders at the White House last tonight seemed to go nowhere. Let's start with, if the government shuts down, what would be the real world impacts? It's so easy to get trapped in the politics of this. Let's talk about the real world impacts it would be for people in the country, including in your home state.
NEGUSE: It would be devastating. We have a number of federal workers, hundreds of thousands of federal workers in my state of Colorado at our federal laboratories, our land management agencies. You know, incredible, talented civil servants who are working on behalf of the American people each and every day, whose, you know, lives would be very much put, you know, their livelihood and their economic activity at risk. And obviously, government services coming to a standstill across the country. But this is a decision that Republicans are making very consciously. The House Republicans, Senate Republicans and the President are making a decision to shut the government down. I think that that decision is regrettable. I think it's terrible. And, ultimately, they're going to be held to account electorally for the decision that they're making.
LEMIRE: And Congressman, we saw the President of the United States put out an AI deepfake video of Leaders Jeffries and Schumer afterwards, offensive, to say the least. Feel free to weigh in on that, but also react to what he just said there, which is sort of giving up the game in terms of if the government does shut down, traditionally workers are furloughed and then when the government reopens, they come back and they get paid. The president is suggesting, well, actually, we may just permanently fire a lot of them.
And I also just think this discussion, this debate that we're having can't be considered in a vacuum. You have to consider the context of what the President of the United States has been doing to the federal government for the last nine months. He has dismantled agencies by executive fiat, he's purging the federal government of civil servants at land management agencies like the Forest Service and elsewhere, ignoring congressional appropriations, pursuing his political enemies, politicizing the Department of Justice, indicting them. It's ridiculous. And, at the end of the day, to expect that Democrats would endorse this kind of activity and support a Republican budget bill that exacerbates the cost of living crisis that they have created, in which they have made everything more expensive for Americans and for Coloradans that I represent is ridiculous, that is not, there's no credible argument that could be made. They know that, as I said, these are not serious people.
So, you know, they control the Congress, they have a majority in the House and the Senate. They have the presidency. They have an obligation to fund the government. Their inability to do so is gross incompetence. And I think the American people, you see this in empirical data that you all have talked about just this morning, I think the American people will make clear that they blame the Republicans for being incapable of funding the government.
LEMIRE: Assistant Democratic Leader, Congressman Joe Neguse of Colorado. Congressman, thank you as always.
Full interview available HERE.
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