Former Top Obama Official Sides With Trump, GOP In Reopening Government

Former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson called on Congress to end the ongoing government shutdown, saying he is prepared to break with his Democratic Party over the issue.

The shutdown began after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and most Democrats voted to block a Republican spending bill early Wednesday. Speaking on CNN’s “The Source with Kaitlan Collins,” Johnson outlined several reasons Congress should act immediately to restore government operations, emphasizing the growing impact on federal workers and national security.

“I’m going to break from the party line here on this. I’m a Democrat. I’m with John Fetterman and Angus King. The problem I see here is that to pass the budget, it needs 60 votes in the Senate. And what is happening each year now, and what I fear is going to happen in the future, is the minority party wants to link that to some other very, very important issue,” Johnson said.

“Affordable health care is critical, obviously, but I fear that this is going to happen every year, every September, October, November. The most basic function of Congress is to fund the government, turn the lights on, keep the government working so that the three million people who are public servants are able to do what they do to serve all the rest of us,” he added.

Johnson said his call to reopen the government was prompted by a conversation with a Transportation Security Administration employee battling stage four cancer who expressed fear about missing her paycheck during the shutdown.

“I’m sympathetic to the workers who are caught up in the middle of this political fight and being used as a political football,” Johnson said. “Ten years ago, Republicans wanted to shut down DHS over immigration, and the motivation for me was a worker, a lot of these people do live paycheck to paycheck, a TSA worker from West Orange, N.J. came to me and said, ‘Mr. Secretary, I have stage four cancer, I need my paycheck for my co-pays.’ And that was my motivation.”

When directly asked whether Democrats should vote to reopen the government, Johnson responded without hesitation. “I believe that Congress should vote to reopen the government,” Johnson told Collins.

Senate Democrats once again voted to keep the government closed last week, rejecting a bipartisan spending bill that would have reopened federal operations for the sixth time. While three Democratic caucus members joined Republicans in supporting the measure, the remainder of the party voted against it, preventing the bill from reaching the 60-vote threshold required for passage.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) accused Democrats of prolonging the shutdown by insisting on reinstating funding for what he described as wasteful foreign projects. He said the items had already been removed from the budget, but that pressure from the party’s progressive wing led Democratic leaders to block any agreement unless the spending was restored.

Kennedy cited examples of the disputed allocations, including $4 million for LGBTQ initiatives in the Balkans and Uganda, $3.6 million for dance workshops for male sex workers in Haiti, and $6 million for Palestinian media programs.

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, ordered Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to use “all available funds” to pay U.S. troops on Oct. 15, despite the ongoing government shutdown that has threatened military paychecks for 1.3 million active duty service members.

“Chuck Schumer recently said, ‘Every day gets better’ during their Radical Left Shutdown. I DISAGREE!” Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social. “If nothing is done, because of ‘Leader’ Chuck Schumer and the Democrats, our Brave Troops will miss the paychecks they are rightfully due on October 15th.”

“That is why I am using my authority, as Commander in Chief, to direct our Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to use all available funds to get our Troops PAID on October 15th,” the president continued. “We have identified funds to do this, and Secretary Hegseth will use them to PAY OUR TROOPS.”