2025 10 01 Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Briefs Members of the Media, Oct. 1, 2025 part002 (14 28min)

need to be saved. We're going to do everything that we can over the coming weeks, if the shutdown lasts that long, to ensure that people get the essential services that they need, despite the fact that Chuck Schumer has shut down the federal government. It's not going to be perfect because we are in a government shutdown. We are going to have to lay some people off if the shutdown continues. We don't like that. We don't necessarily want to do it, but we're going to do what we have to to keep the American people's essential services continuing to run. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Thank you for being here. Yesterday, President Trump said, as a result of the shutdown, we'll be laying off a lot of people that are going to be very effective, and the Democrats, they are going to be Democrats. Has the administration asked agencies to target federal workers who they believe to be Democrats in these reductions of forces? We're not targeting federal agencies based on politics, we're targeting the people's government so that as much as possible of the essential services continue to function. That is the question the President has asked the entire government is fundamentally, okay, we're going to shut down. That causes some problems. The troops aren't getting paid. There's nothing that we can do about that while the government is shut down, but there are essential services that we want to make sure as much as possible, they still continue to function. That is the principle that's driving us forward during this shutdown. It's going to continue to be the principle that drives us forward, but let's be honest. If this thing drags on for another few days or God forbid in other few weeks, we're going to have to lay people off. We're going to have to save money in some places so that essential services don't get turned off in other places. That is the reality of the government shutdown that Chuck Schumer and Democrats have hoisted upon the administration. What do you mean by they're going to be Democrats? He said they're going to be Democrats. You laid out a lot of the pain and problems that would come with a Democratic shutdown, and yet in the open office yesterday, the President said that a lot of good could come from a shutdown. So where that circle is, which is a Democratic caused crisis or a Republican opportunity for reform? I think all the President is saying, Phil, is that he wants to make sure the American people's government functions as well as it can despite the fact that we're going to shut down. We're going to have to make things work, and that means that we're going to have to triage from certain things. That means certain people are going to have to get laid off, and we're going to try to make sure that the American people suffer as little as possible from the shutdown. That's what the President is saying, is that yes, this is a bad thing. Obviously, the President is trying to reopen the government, but we're going to make things work as well as we possibly can given the constraints that we have. And then all those policy differences for the discussion and the negotiations come later. During the Biden administration, Democrats twice voted to expand these Affordable Care Act tax credits, but those were supposed to be temporary and they were slated to expire at the end of the year. As you sort of crack the door open to negotiation at a later date, would the party that ran on defunding Obamacare really negotiate about potentially expanding Obamacare? Well, Phil, what we've said to the Democrats is that we're willing to have a conversation about how to ensure that Americans continue to have access to health care. And frankly, they should have access to better health care at a lower cost. We inherited a massive healthcare system from the Biden administration. It's why the President has worked so hard on the most favored nation status for prescription drugs. It's why we care so much about lowering the costs of prescriptions and why we're doing everything else. We're willing to have that conversation, but I think it's important to bracket the healthcare policy conversation because it's separate from the government shutdown. We think that we can open the government and then have the conversation about what best healthcare policy to fit the needs of the American people. That's all we're trying to do. That's all we're trying to accomplish. We've got to reopen the government first. Now, Caroline, I don't know how you do this, how you actually choose people, because I don't know 90% of the names in here, is it just who's the best dressed? Okay, I really like your shirt. Go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Biden, President. You are President of the Senate. Can you talk about what you're doing, what the administration is doing, to try to get other Senate Democrats to vote to open the government? Yeah, we're talking to a number of our colleagues, Democratic and Republican in the Senate. I talked to a number of them last night. The President, of course, is talking to them as well. I think there really are two categories of demands that I've seen privately from congressional Democrats. I think on the one hand, those who are negotiating in good faith are saying, look, we just want to make sure that we're able to have a conversation with the administration about some of the critical needs that we see that need to get fixed over the next few months. We recognize it's kind of absurd, and a lot of them will admit in private that it's kind of absurd to shut down the people's government over these disagreements, but just agree to negotiate with us in good faith on these issues, and, of course, we're having that conversation with them. Then there's another category, people who say, give us everything we want, or we're going to keep the government shut down. We just write those people off because they're not negotiating in good faith, and, frankly, we don't need them. We've already got three more Democrats last night than I thought we would get. And I think it's because they recognize the illogic of the position of taking the entire American economy hostage because they don't get their policy priorities. So, three moderate Democrats joined 52 Republicans last night. We need five more in order to reopen the government, and that's really where we're going to focus is how to get those five additional Democrats. Thanks, Mr. Vice President. First two questions. Are there plans to meet Democratic leaders again in the coming days, or are you planning on plucking off centers one by one? So that's a whole question? No, I got a second question. Okay, go ahead and ask a second question. So, the President has been posting some images of leader Jeff Feiss and Senator Schumer. I saw. You've said that you're interested in good faith negotiations with these leaders, but what message does that send? Is it helpful to post pictures of leader Jeff Feiss and his son, Braro, if you're trying to have good faith talks with him? Oh, I think it's funny. The President's joking, and we're having a good time. You can negotiate a good faith while also poking a little bit of fun at some of the absurdities of the Democrats' positions, and even poking some fun at the absurdity of the Democrats themselves. I'll tell Hakeem Jeffries right now, I make this solemn promise to you that if you help us reopen the government, the Subriero memes will stop. And I've talked to the President of the United States about that. Now, to your first question, are we negotiating one-on-one, are we negotiating in groups? Look, I will go to the U.S. Capitol right now and meet with Chuck Schumer or any Senate Democrat if it helps us reopen the government. Most of the conversations, my experience at least have been one-off. We're also, of course, relying on some of our Senate Republican colleagues who have good relationships across the aisle. We're going to do whatever we have to do is the answer, and I think it's tough to predict what shape this negotiation is going to take over the next few months, but I feel good about the fact that Democrats already realize privately the fundamental irrationality of their position. I hope that they're going to publicly acknowledge it and reopen the government. Right in the back, yeah. You know, that's a good question. Actually, it's a very tough question. Asking me to get in the head of Chuck Schumer is not a place I particularly want to be, but my basic read on it is that the entire Democratic Party, the political leadership, not every Democrat nationwide, but the political leadership of their party has got it into their heads that the only way to be compassionate is to be compassionate to illegal aliens rather than American citizens. If you go back to what Bill Clinton was saying, even Barack Obama, in some cases, what he was saying about illegal immigration 10, 15, 20 years ago, you would put them on the maggot right based purely on their rhetoric around illegal immigration. So I don't know why they've gone so far to the left. I think it's bad for the country. I think it's bad for them politically. But our principle, all I can do is speak for the President that I serve in the country, the administration that I serve right now, we believe that the American people's government exists for the American people. That means the people who have the legal right to be here. And that's why we're fighting to reopen the government. And unfortunately, the Democrats are fighting to shut it down for the benefit of illegal aliens. And I'll take a couple more and then I'll look Caroline. I'll go back to my day job, so Caroline, go back to hers. All right. Yes. Mr. Vice President. I'm just going back to the sombrero. You said that the President is joking. But Hakim Jeffrey says that these, you know, these means were racist. What's your response to that? And just if I may briefly go off topic, Secretary Hegseth yesterday made an edict about no more bidos in the military, just wondering what, sorry. What did he say? No bidos. Beards. Beards. Sorry, it's my accent. I just wanted your response to that. I didn't see that particular comment. I thought Pete gave a hell of a speech, and a speech that really is just oriented around returning the American military to the very high standards that it has had. For virtually its entire history until Joe Biden came along and decided to lower standards. I think it was bad for our military, and it was bad for our troops. When I was a young United States Marine, I did not have a beard. I am now the Vice President, so I get to do what I want to do. But I think Pete's trying to re-implement high standards, and that's a very good thing. I'm the sombrero thing. I mean, Hakim Jeffrey said it was racist, and I know that he said that. And I honestly don't even know what that means. Like, is he a Mexican-American that is offended by having a sombrero meme? I saw one of the major TV stations put the meme up and then say, this is AI-generated. And he had the curly animated mustache, too. It's like, do the American people really not realize the American people recognize that he did not actually come to the White House wearing a sombrero and a black curly animation mustache? Like, give the country a little bit of credit. We're all trying to do a very important job for the American people. The President of the United States likes to have a little bit of fun when he's doing it, and I think that's okay. I'll take one more question. In every previous shutdown, workers have been furloughed, not laid off. So why does the President want to fire some workers and not just furlough them? Why is this shutdown any different? Well, first of all, we have many, many final decisions about what we're going to do with certain workers. What we're saying is that we might have to take extraordinary steps, especially the longer this goes on. We're going to have to take extraordinary measures to ensure that people's government operates. Again, not perfectly because it's not going to operate perfectly in the midst of a shutdown, but operate as well as it possibly can. And I think that the Democrats, if they're so worried about the effect this is having on the American people, and they should be, what they should do is reopen the government, not complain about how we respond to the fact that Chuck Schumer and the Democrats have shut down the government in the first place. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, guys. Well, let's let the fun continue. Vice President is a very busy man, and I'm happy to take some more questions. I know there's more news today. Aside from the shutdown, we can focus on the shutdown if you want, but let's go ahead, Kate, why don't you start? The President talked about doing things that he said were irreversible during the shutdown, cutting vast numbers of people he said and cutting programs. Can you specify what exactly he's referring to, what's on the table, and what's going to be cut? Look, I think the Vice President just referred to this in some of the answers that he gave regarding the layoffs. There are unfortunate consequences to a government shutdown, and the federal government is not receiving any cash at the moment. And so the Office of Management and Budget has been tasked with looking over the receipts and looking over the budget of the entire federal bureaucracy. And as the Vice President said, determining what needs to continue to go out the door, and what can we continue to keep running, and what unfortunately is going to have to come to an end. So those decisions are being made, and unfortunately, layoffs are very likely, as the Vice President just said, going to be a part of that. I just want to know how to meet direct response from Hamas, from the Peace proposal that was laid out. You know, the President said he would give very four days, but is there a hard deadline now of what are the next steps here? I will reiterate what the President of the United States said three or four days, and I can tell you that there are some very sensitive discussions that are taking place, but I certainly don't want to get ahead of any announcement at this podium. I'm going to let Special Envoy Whitkopf and the President of the United States handle that. Thank you, Caroline. Two questions, first of all, following up on that. The President said yesterday, I believe, we've been three or four days. He wanted to hear your answer from Hamas. Does he still sticking by the timeline? Yes, as I just confirmed. And a second question is a comment that's gotten a lot of global attention. Senator Dick Durbin, he was set to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Catholic Church since decline accepting it, because there has been some controversy. Pope Leo commented on this. He said that someone who says I'm against abortion, but I'm going to bereave that with the impregnment of immigrants in the United States. I don't know if that's a pro-life. You've been very open about your Catholic faith. How do you respond to that? I would reject there is inhumane treatment of illegal immigrants in the United States under this administration. There was, however, significant inhumane treatment of illegal immigrants in the previous administration as they were being trafficked and raped and be in many cases killed over our United States southern border. You also look at the inhumane treatment at the hands of some of these illegal immigrants that took place under the previous administration as well. Lake and Riley comes to mind a beautiful American citizen who was killed at the hands of an illegal immigrant. So this administration is trying to enforce our nation's laws in the most humane way possible, and we're upholding the law. And we're doing that on the behalf of the people of our country who live here. Thanks a lot, Caroline. What is the level of concern that the administration has regarding unprotracted government shutdown? In terms of its impact on the U.S. economy and also its impact on small businesses as well? Well, look, this government shutdown is no doubt. The U.S. economy is no doubt that the U.S. economy is no doubt.