INTERVIEW: Rep. Stephanie Bice on how the Schumer Shutdown harms America's Heartland: "Rural America is not important to the Democrats"
Democrats, Rep. Stephanie Bice said, "want to hide. They want to hijack the process. They want to hold the American people hostage and hurt the country. And we’re tired of it."
While Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) closed his personal office in Washington, D.C., Rep. Stephanie Bice (R., Okla.) took the opposite track during the Schumer Shutdown, keeping her offices in both Oklahoma City and in D.C. open to serve her constituents.
In an interview with the Washington Reporter, Bice blasted the Democrats’ “political theater” that led to the Schumer Shutdown, and explained how it is harming America’s Heartland.
“They’re not actually interested in helping the American people,” she said. “[Jeffries is] standing on the front steps of the U.S. Capitol trying to blame Republicans for a shutdown that is clearly on the shoulders of Democrats. The fact is, Republican offices are open. My office in Washington, D.C. is open for business. My office in Oklahoma City is open for business. We are taking calls. We are helping constituents with case work…Evidently, Hakeem is more interested in being on television and being on the front steps of the Capitol than he is about working for the American people.”
Bice, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, has spent months working alongside her fellow Oklahoman, Rep. Tom Cole — the committee’s chair — to get appropriations bills across the finish line. “And now the Democrats have decided that they want to hold the American people hostage, demanding $1.5 trillion in additional spending to keep government open,” she said. “It’s just remarkable.”
“They are choosing giving illegals health care over paying the troops, Bice added. “The bottom line for me is that they’re not looking at what’s in the bill. They’re actually looking at what’s not in the bill. What’s in the bill is a short term extension of government funding for seven weeks. Why is that a bad thing? There’s no partisan policy riders in there. It is a clean CR and they voted for it 13 times prior, and now all of a sudden they’ve decided that it’s no longer acceptable.”
Cole, she said, has done “incredible work” throughout the appropriations process. She feels the opposite about Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) and other leading Democrats.
“Democrats are looking to choose prioritize illegal aliens, providing them health care and other benefits, over hard working Americans, legal citizens of this country,” she said. “I cannot, for the life of me, understand how Chuck Schumer cannot see that…Chuck Schumer refused to negotiate or even put on the Senate floor last year any appropriations bills. He is not interested in funding the government. If he was, he wouldn’t continue to put CRs forward.”
Democrats, Bice said, want to lie and “they want to hide. They want to hijack the process. They want to hold the American people hostage and hurt the country….The American people are tired of it. They want this nonsense to stop, and they don’t understand why somebody from New York thinks that this isn’t an issue.”
Bice also fact checked Democrats on one of their main messaging points, explaining that Rep. Jim McGovern (D., Conn.) is wrong in claiming that illegal immigrants won’t directly benefit from the shutdown fight position adopted by almost every House and Senate Democrat.
“I also saw that Jim McGovern was saying earlier on on Twitter that no illegals are benefiting from Medicare or Medicaid Services,” Bice said. “That’s factually incorrect. Gavin Newsom was quoted in a May article suggesting that 1.6 million illegals are currently on Cal-Med, basically the Medicare in California. Taxpayers in Oklahoma are funding the health care for illegal aliens in California. How is that fair?”
While illegal immigrants stand poised to benefit from the Democrats’ shutdown strategy, Bice explained that “the Heartland is going to be extremely impacted by this. There are some districts across the country that actually don’t have a sizable federal government presence. That is not Oklahoma. We have five military bases here in the state. We have two National Guard facilities. We have USDA facilities. We have an FBI office here and in Tulsa. There is a significant federal presence in the state.”
Given how a shutdown would harm both her district, her state, and her region, Bice posited that “rural America is not important to the Democrats.”
She tied that in to how Democrats under President Joe Biden “wanted to decimate the oil and gas industry, which is why they put so many onerous bureaucratic loopholes in place to make it almost impossible.”
On the other hand, Bice explained that “President Trump made it very clear on day one that he was going to return this country to energy dominance, and one of the principles of that was making sure that we put policies in place that made permitting easier…We’re continuing to address that issue, but now you have a scenario where permitting will be delayed because those employees that would review applications for permitting may be furloughed, may not be in the office. We also have USDA facilities across states, including Oklahoma, that are going to be impacted.”
The Schumer Shutdown, Bice noted, will “impact every piece of permitting that currently is in place, whether it is for coal, whether it’s for oil or natural gas, whether it is for mining operations. Any of the things that the president is focused on trying to improve or reshore, from a manufacturing standpoint and a from a mining standpoint, will be impacted by the ridiculousness of this government shutdown that the Democrats are embarking on.”
When it comes to her district specifically, there are also a series of consequences with national significance.
Schumer’s Shutdown “has an impact on the 5th District because we have a sizable federal employee contingency here in Oklahoma, with Tinker Air Force Base, for example,” she said. “Although the base itself is not in my congressional district, it’s about a half a mile outside. There are 30,000 civilian and military servicemembers on that base, many of whom, because of this Schumer Shutdown, will not receive a paycheck if this is not rectified quickly.”
“In addition to that,” the Oklahoma appropriator added, “you have defense contractors across the Oklahoma City metro area that are also unable to keep their employees on payroll currently because of the Schumer Shutdown, which has a significant impact. We also have federal facilities here, an FBI office, the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center, we have a Customs and Border Patrol operation here in Oklahoma City. All of these things are impacted by the Democrats’ unwillingness to be reasonable in their demands and to instead hold the American people hostage.”
One piece of good news that Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought made clear to Bice and to other House Republicans is that the “National Weather Service would continue to stay operational.” That is essential, she said, “because we are still in the midst of hurricane season. We still see tornadoes, active tornadoes, even this late in the year. Ensuring that the National Weather Service continues to operate is critical for health and safety of Americans, and that will be protected during the shutdown.”
But, because of how the Democrats forced the shutdown, OMB will “have to do something,” Bice said.
“They have no option but to start laying people off, or to do a reduction in force, because we have no money,” she said. “When the Democrats decide to shut the government down, you absolutely have to make really hard decisions, and that’s what’s happening right now. We expect reductions in force to occur in the next couple of days. Some of those are going to be challenging, but until we can open the government back up, we have no option.”
Once the government does inevitably reopen, Bice wants to work with her colleagues like Sen. James Lankford (R., Okla.) on passing legislation to “eliminate or alleviate this scenario” again in the future.
But, she said, “first and foremost, we have to get ourselves out of this current crisis that Democrats have created and reopen the government, and once we reopen the government, we should have some conversations about how we make sure that this doesn’t happen again….Democrats are weaponizing shutdowns, and that’s not good for the country.”
Below is a transcript of our interview with Rep. Stephanie Bice, lightly edited for clarity.
Washington Reporter:
Congresswoman Bice, we’re a couple hours into the government shutdown on day one. What have you been hearing from your constituents about who’s to blame and what they want to see happen next?
Rep. Stephanie Bice:
Constituents of the 5th District recognize that this shutdown is really on the shoulder of Democrats. This shutdown could have been avoided if they were willing to allow for seven more weeks of negotiation on an appropriations package. As an appropriator, I’ve worked hard over the last several months to get our appropriations bills across the finish line. Chairman Tom Cole has done incredible work to achieve that goal, and now the Democrats have decided that they want to hold the American people hostage, demanding $1.5 trillion in additional spending to keep government open. It’s just remarkable. They are choosing giving illegals health care over paying the troops. The bottom line for me is that they’re not looking at what’s in the bill. They’re actually looking at what’s not in the bill. What’s in the bill is a short term extension of government funding for seven weeks. Why is that a bad thing? There’s no partisan policy riders in there. It is a clean CR and they voted for it 13 times prior, and now all of a sudden they’ve decided that it’s no longer acceptable.
Washington Reporter:
We see two different strategies that are being taken by the leadership of their party and the leadership of your party. Earlier today, I reported that Hakeem Jeffries’s personal office, just like the one that you have in D.C., was closed to the public. What do you think that says about the level of seriousness with which he is approaching these negotiations?
Rep. Stephanie Bice:
It’s political theater. They’re not actually interested in helping the American people. He’s standing on the front steps of the U.S. Capitol trying to blame Republicans for a shutdown that is clearly on the shoulders of Democrats. The fact is, Republican offices are open. My office in Washington, D.C. is open for business. My office in Oklahoma City is open for business. We are taking calls. We are helping constituents with case work. We are here to do the job for our constituents in the 5th District. And evidently, Hakeem is more interested in being on television and being on the front steps of the Capitol than he is about working for the American people.
Washington Reporter:
With Mike Johnson, both his leadership office and his personal office were both open this morning. What do you think about your side’s handling of these negotiations, and what that basic message of ‘our doors are open’ sends to both your constituents and to Americans, but also to the Democrats who they’re negotiating with?
Rep. Stephanie Bice:
The American people are seeing right through this political theater. They realize that this is a Schumer Shutdown. I keep hearing the left talk about how Republicans hold the House and the Senate and the White House, but they have forgotten it takes 60 votes in the Senate to bypass the filibuster and actually pass legislation. So you need seven Democrats, and we already have three that have agreed to that recognize that this is political: John Fetterman, Catherine Cortez Masto, and Angus King have all recognized this, and we even have Jared Golden in the House. The CR that was passed was bipartisan. There were Democrats that recognized how ridiculous this position is for them, and the American people are seeing it on full display with Hakeem Jeffries not having his personal office open, instead standing on the front steps of the Capitol or in front of any television camera that you can get in front of to try to convince them otherwise.
Washington Reporter:
Looking at your district and Oklahoma specifically, how does a Schumer Shutdown impact Oklahoma’s 5th District?
Rep. Stephanie Bice:
It has an impact on the 5th District because we have a sizable federal employee contingency here in Oklahoma, with Tinker Air Force Base, for example. Although the base itself is not in my congressional district, it’s about a half a mile outside. There are 30,000 civilian and military servicemembers on that base, many of whom, because of this Schumer Shutdown, will not receive a paycheck if this is not rectified quickly. In addition to that, you have defense contractors across the Oklahoma City metro area that are also unable to keep their employees on payroll currently because of the Schumer Shutdown, which has a significant impact. We also have federal facilities here, an FBI office, the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center, we have a Customs and Border Patrol operation here in Oklahoma City. All of these things are impacted by the Democrats’ unwillingness to be reasonable in their demands and to instead hold the American people hostage.
Washington Reporter:
I imagine this impacts both your district and your state with energy producers and the permitting processes. Can you talk about that?
Rep. Stephanie Bice:
Yes. We already recognized that the previous administration wanted to decimate the oil and gas industry, which is why they put so many onerous bureaucratic loopholes in place to make it almost impossible. President Trump made it very clear on day one that he was going to return this country to energy dominance, and one of the principles of that was making sure that we put policies in place that made permitting easier. We’re working on that. We’re continuing to address that issue, but now you have a scenario where permitting will be delayed because those employees that would review applications for permitting may be furloughed, may not be in the office. We also have USDA facilities across states, including Oklahoma, that are going to be impacted. Rural development is going to be impacted. Oklahoma has has a sizable rural development operation in the state; rural America is not important to the Democrats.
Washington Reporter:
One of the other initiatives that we had talked about earlier this week is the Trump administration’s push to reprioritize coal in America, as well as the further prioritization, as you were just talking about, of American energy dominance. Does a shutdown, even if it’s a brief one, jeopardize that not just for the constituents who work on this for you, but for Americans across the country?
Rep. Stephanie Bice:
Yes, it’s going to impact every piece of permitting that currently is in place, whether it is for coal, whether it’s for oil or natural gas, whether it is for mining operations. Any of the things that the president is focused on trying to improve or reshore, from a manufacturing standpoint and a from a mining standpoint, will be impacted by the ridiculousness of this government shutdown that the Democrats are embarking on.
Washington Reporter:
You had mentioned the National Weather Service facilities in and around your district, and that obviously reminded me of the movie Twisters; how will that specifically impact Oklahoma and Americans if facilities like that are not as operational as we need them to be?
Rep. Stephanie Bice:
Well, the good news is that on the call earlier today with OMB, Russ Vought was very clear that National Weather Service would continue to stay operational. It’s important, because we are still in the midst of hurricane season. We still see tornadoes, active tornadoes, even this late in the year. Ensuring that the National Weather Service continues to operate is critical for health and safety of Americans, and that will be protected during the shutdown.
Washington Reporter:
From your vantage point on the Appropriations Committee, what do you think about how the White House is doing their job here? They’re basically ready to unleash Russ Vought as either their policy in general or as further leverage on Democrats to come back to the negotiating table.
Rep. Stephanie Bice:
They have to do something. They have no option but to start laying people off, or to do a reduction in force, because we have no money. This isn’t something that people relish. Russ Vought is not relishing in the fact that he has to lay people off. But when the Democrats decide to shut the government down, you absolutely have to make really hard decisions, and that’s what’s happening right now. We expect reductions in force to occur in the next couple of days. Some of those are going to be challenging, but until we can open the government back up, we have no option. You cannot continue to employ people when you don’t have the resources or funding to be able to pay them.
Washington Reporter:
You just laid out how a Schumer Shutdown is incredibly problematic for the 5th District of Oklahoma, and for Oklahoma itself. I’m curious if, as you’ve been talking with your colleagues who specifically represent America’s Heartland, are other ways that this shutdown is impacting Americans that the New York Democrats — Schumer and Jeffries — would not think about when they’re consuming their normal media digests of the New York Times and far left Twitter?
Rep. Stephanie Bice;
The Heartland is going to be extremely impacted by this. There are some districts across the country that actually don’t have a sizable federal government presence. That is not Oklahoma. We have five military bases here in the state. We have two National Guard facilities. We have USDA facilities. We have an FBI office here and in Tulsa. There is a significant federal presence in the state. Democrats are looking to choose prioritize illegal aliens, providing them health care and other benefits, over hard working Americans, legal citizens of this country. And I cannot, for the life of me, understand how Chuck Schumer cannot see that. A point was made earlier today that’s worth noting: Chuck Schumer refused to negotiate or even put on the Senate floor last year any appropriations bills. He is not interested in funding the government. If he was, he wouldn’t continue to put CRs forward. I think it speaks volumes. They want to hide. They want to hijack the process. They want to hold the American people hostage and hurt the country. And we’re tired of it. The American people are tired of it. They want this nonsense to stop, and they don’t understand why somebody from New York thinks that this isn’t an issue. It’s very much a problem. I also saw that Jim McGovern was saying earlier on on Twitter that no illegals are benefiting from Medicare or Medicaid Services. That’s factually incorrect. Gavin Newsom was quoted in a May article suggesting that 1.6 million illegals are currently on Cal-Med, basically the Medicare in California. Taxpayers in Oklahoma are funding the health care for illegal aliens in California. How is that fair?
Washington Reporter:
One of your senators, James Lankford, has a bill with Jodey Arrington that would, if passed, end government shutdowns forever. Is that something you’re tracking, and if so, is that something that you you could see yourself voting for?
Rep. Stephanie Bice:
Yes, we are tracking that. There are a lot of bills out there currently that would eliminate or alleviate this scenario, and all of them are on the table. First and foremost, we have to get ourselves out of this current crisis that Democrats have created and reopen the government, and once we reopen the government, we should have some conversations about how we make sure that this doesn’t happen again. I think the Democrats are weaponizing shutdowns, and that’s not good for the country.
Washington Reporter:
Congresswoman Bice, thanks for chatting as always.