A sign at an Oct. 3, 2025, press conference Democrats organized to castigate Republicans over the government shutdown. Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy/Arizona Mirror
Arizona Democrats punched back at Republicans Friday, casting the blame for the ongoing government shutdown on the party that controls Congress and the presidency, and focusing on how the GOP’s refusal to extend popular health care tax credits, which are at the heart of the shutdown fight, will harm Arizonans.
“Our government should be open and working for people,” U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari said at a press conference Friday morning at the Arizona Capitol.
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The federal government has been shut down for three days after Democrats in the U.S. Senate refused to vote for a Republican stopgap spending bill aimed at reopening the government. That bill did not include an extension of the enhanced tax credits that have kept the Affordable Care Act plans affordable for those who get insurance through that marketplace, and Democratic opposition meant it didn’t get the 60 votes it needed to pass.
Without those credits, premiums will sharply increase for most Americans who get their health insurance through the ACA marketplace, which saw record enrollment this year. An estimate by the Congressional Budget Office put roughly 4 million people as uninsured by the end of the year if the credits expire.
Ansari, a Phoenix Democrat, and others who spoke Friday morning said that Republicans have been unwilling to negotiate or compromise on the issue, despite the popularity of the tax credits. Ansari referred to the late U.S. Sen. John McCain’s famous thumbs down vote that stopped a Republican effort to repeal the ACA.
“I wish our own Arizona Republicans understood that,” Ansari said of McCain bucking with his Republican colleagues to preserve the ACA.
U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Phoenix, speaks at an Oct. 3, 2025, press conference Democrats organized to castigate Republicans over the government shutdown. Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy/Arizona Mirror
Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen placed blame solely on Democrats, specifically U.S. Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, who both voted against the Republican led spending bill.
“Gallego and Kelly are acting like Arizona is a blue state. It’s not. And with the way we are registering Republicans right now, this will be their last term. They should be part of the bipartisan coalition trying to keep the government open. Instead, they are bowing to the left fringe,” Petersen said in a press release.
Republicans and the Trump administration have tried to frame the shutdown fight around the issue of immigration, falsely claiming that Democratic lawmakers are attempting to ensure undocumented immigrants have access to the ACA.
“Please do not listen to the lies they are telling you,” Ansari said, adding that undocumented immigrants are legally barred from receiving health insurance through the ACA.
President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have been blaming Democrats for the government shutdown, going so far as to add banners to federal agency websites blaming the “radical left” for the government shutting down, a likely violation of the Hatch Act.
“To blame the minority party for any of this is a joke,” Arizona Education Association President Marisol Garcia said during Friday’s press conference, adding that Republicans control what bills are allowed to be heard and who is appointed to what committees. “Get it together. Children are starving. People are going to die.”
Some Arizonans impacted directly by the shutdown also voiced their opinion during Friday’s morning press conference.
“I can’t imagine a life not being a public servant,” American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees 2384 President Jason Henley said, calling the shutdown a “direct threat” to city employees like himself who will see their city budgets impacted.
“We are not here to serve Washington plutocrats. We are here to serve Americans, Arizonans,” Henley said. “There are 350 million of us and we need to be respected… Federal workers are not bargaining chips.”
Shortly after Friday morning’s press conference at the Arizona Capitol, Ansari, along with her colleague U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton, spoke with Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport about how the shutdown is impacting federal workers there, including air traffic controllers and law enforcement officers.
“These professionals are currently working without pay,” Stanton said, urging that despite that, safety is still a key priority and told those who may travel through the airport to “plan for patience.”
During Trump’s first term, the United States went through its longest government shutdown to date and it ended largely due to air traffic controllers, who were working without pay. In his second term, the Federal Aviation Administration has seen a number of cuts.
“It is time to govern, not posture. It is time to reopen the government,” Stanton said as travelers came in and out of security behind him.
U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Phoenix, speaks at an Oct. 3, 2025, press conference Democrats organized to castigate Republicans over the government shutdown. Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy/Arizona Mirror
Gallego said that Transportation Security Administration and Customs and Border Protection officials working at Sky Harbor are currently working without pay, and asked those traveling in the airport to “be kind” to workers who are dealing with this added stress.
Both Stanton and Ansari spoke Friday about House Speaker Mike Johnson’s refusal to swear in newly elected southern Arizona representative Adelita Grijalva. The newly elected representative could be the deciding vote to force the release of the Epstein files, something that both Stanton and Ansari mentioned.
“This is not about timing or procedure, this is about power,” Stanton said of Johnson delaying the swearing in.
Ansari told the Arizona Mirror that she was told that Johnson is looking at next week to swear her in.
“He’s been under a lot of pressure, rightly so,” Ansari said. “It better be next week.”
