WASHINGTON—Today, Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson joined Speaker Mike Johnson for his press conference alongside House Republican Leadership to discuss the government shutdown's impacts on America’s national parks. Highlights from Congressman Simpson’s remarks are available below.

Watch Rep. Simpson’s full remarks here.

Watch the full press conference here.

 

On the Schumer Shutdown

“House Republicans did not shut the government down. We voted to keep the government open. It’s the House and Senate Democrats that are voting to keep the government shut down…We gave them [Democrats] exactly what they wanted: a clean CR, no gimmicks, no policy riders, and short-term…That’s exactly what they got, and surprisingly, they voted against it.”

 

On America’s National Parks

“The [Trump] Administration is trying to keep our national parks open. Unlike the Obama Administration during the 2013 shutdown, when they actually put tape around the World War II monument so that visitors and veterans could not go in and visit…they [the Obama Administration] tried to make it as painful as possible. The Trump Administration is trying to do just the reverse – they’re trying to keep the parks and our public lands open and make it as painless as possible… I applaud this Administration for their efforts to mitigate the impacts that this shutdown is going to have on our national parks.”

 

On Restoring Regular Order

 “You’ve all heard us as Appropriations, and all Republicans, say we need to get back to regular order…We haven’t done regular order for about 15 years. This Leadership team behind me has moved us in that direction more than any other leadership team I have seen…You can’t [get back to regular order] overnight – it takes time. This Leadership team has moved us in that direction, and we will get back to doing our appropriations process the way it should be done…But we can’t do that when the government is shut down…We need to open the government back up, get rid of the Stupid Schumer Shutdown, and let us do our job.”