Good morning, Karoline.
How are you?
Good.
Good. We're on day two, unfortunately, of a government shutdown. The president, the vice president, the entire team here will continue to work and talk to members on the Hill, to try and come to a resolution, to try to encourage Democrats to muster up the courage to do the right thing. And we believe there will be a vote taking place tomorrow, and we hope that vote will lead to the government reopening.
That's what the president wants to see, and that's what we're working on today. John?
Yesterday, the vice president was right here by your side, expressing his optimism that he thinks the shutdown is gonna be a short shutdown. Do you share that optimism? Does the president share that optimism?
I do. I think we all, that's our hope. Uh, and that's our expectation. We know, Democrats know they are doing the wrong thing by shutting the government down. You can see it when they're answering questions. You can hear it in their voice. There is zero good reason for them to vote to shut the government down right now.
They are doing it for political reasons. They are doing it because they want to give taxpayer-funded healthcare benefits to illegal aliens, which is something the American people resoundingly rejected ahead of the election last year. That's why they re-elected President Trump, in a large part. And so Democrats know what the right thing to do is, and it's to reopen the federal government.
Karoline -- should ERs check for immigration status [Inaudible]
I'm sorry?
Should ERs check for immigration status before treating [Inaudible]
Um, that's probably not a question for me to answer. I think that's a question for healthcare professionals and legal experts to answer.
[Crosstalk]
Let me ask you, do you think that a legal aliens should receive Medicaid benefits? Medicaid benefits that go to the most vulnerable people in our country? Th- -- Medicaid benefits that were designed to help, uh, low-income families and Americans in our country, and what the Biden administration --
Ma'am, you're in front of a court [Inaudible]
-- and what the Biden administration did gave, is they allowed tens of millions of illegal aliens from all over the world to come into our country, yes, and they paroled them into the system, and you cover immigration, you know, well, it was an, a complete abuse of our immigration system, and they slapped a Band-Aid on these illegals.
They called it Temporary Protective Status. And then they allowed those illegals, from all over the world, to get free benefits. And you know who would like free benefits? Hardworking Americans, who work their butts off every day, who are living paycheck to paycheck because of the Biden-induced refla- -- inflation crisis.
And there were wait, higher wait times at hospitals under the Biden administration. We saw these illegals committing crimes all over our country, and they're getting things for free. That is fundamentally unfair, and this administration is not going to --
Okay, but for ERs, should ERs, if a person [Inaudible] should they be asked their immigration status before [Inaudible]
Gabe, I don't speak for emergency rooms across the country. I speak for the president of the United States, and that's what on this policy.
[Crosstalk]
Nancy.
If there is this one provision in the Democratic proposal that the White House disagrees with, what's to stop you from negotiating over other provisions where there may be some common ground?
We haven't wanted to negotiate. We just wanna keep the government open. That's been the Republican and the, the Trump White House position since the very beginning. We wanted to pass a clean continuing res- -- resolution, we still do, to keep the government open, and then we can negotiate on all of these policy matters.
It's the Democrats who injected partisan politics into keeping the government in the business of the American people.
But Republicans do this when they're in the minority, to, they see an opportunity to gain some leverage and have a negotiation. Why is it okay for Republicans to do it, but not the Democrats?
Democrats have voted for the clean continuing resolution that Republicans introduced 13 times in the past. 13 times. They voted for it as recently as March. And now, all of a sudden, they are shutting the government down, and they're holding our country hostage over a partisan political matter that the vast majority of the country disagrees with.
And they know it's so unpopular that they're now running away from it. I saw some senators on television this morning saying, "We don't wanna give healthcare benefits to illegal aliens." Yes, you do. Roll the tape. You can see time and time again, Democrats have supported that. They've voted for it, and they did it under Joe Biden, and we stopped it. The president stopped it with the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill.
And now they want to undo the president's very popular policy, to ensure that taxpayer-funded healthcare benefits only go to taxpaying law-abiding American citizens.
Can you, you, can, can you discuss [Inaudible] administration [Inaudible] shutdown [Inaudible] hundreds, [Inaudible] thousands?
Look, it's likely going to be in the thousands. It's a very good question. And that's something that, uh, the Office of Management and Budget and the entire team at the White House here, again, is unfortunately having to work on today. These discussions and these conversations, these meetings would not be happening if the Democrats had voted to keep the government open.
[Crosstalk]
Steve, go.
[Inaudible]
Look, uh, I'll let the president speak on that. As you know, he has made it very clear, he wants this war to end, but he has also said if both sides aren't serious about ending the war, United States of America will continue to sell weapons to NATO, and NATO can use those weapons, uh, however they want in, with respect to Ukraine.
Karoline, the president said today he's meeting with [Inaudible] to talk about which Democrat agencies he recommends be cut. What agencies are on the table for that conversation?
Those conversations are taking place today. I won't prejudge them. I won't get ahead of them.
Is there anything that's potentially considered right now? He said Democrat agencies. What is he referring to in the federal government?
Look, we're gonna look at agencies that don't ali- -- align with the administration's values, that we feel are a waste of the taxpayer dollar. And look, the, unfortunately, these conversations are happening, because we don't have any money coming into the federal government right now. And so the president wants to be a good steward of the American taxpayer dollar, during a time when our balance sheet is looking very grim, because the Democrats chose to shut the government down.
Karoline? [Inaudible] um, higher education, s- -- sent out [Inaudible] universities. What are you trying to achieve with this kind of [Inaudible] Just to clarify, is this offering preferential access, or -- if universities don't sign it, funds will be pulled?
I think, um, that's a ter- -- determination for our policy team to make. Uh, but this letter went out to multiple universities, as you know, and it's really a sign of encouragement for them to work alongside the administration, to do what's right for their students in terms of ensuring free speech, in terms of preventing some of the anti-s- -- Semitic and illegal behavior that we saw ravaging our college campuses last year.
[Crosstalk]
Steve, I heard you had another --
Yeah.
-- foreign policy question.
[Inaudible]
Yes. So, uh, the president, um, made it very clear he wants to hear back from them very soon. Um, I will leave it to the president's Secretary of State to speak on that, but, uh, we expect and we hope that Hamas will accept the plan that was proposed by Special Envoy Witkoff. It's a good plan, and as you know, it's been applauded by leaders all over the world.
Is the White --
We'll see you guys later. Thank you.
[Inaudible] not have to cover [Inaudible] --