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Leavitt and Vance Brief the Media on the Government Shutdown, Oct. 1, 2025

October 1, 2025 · The White House · 0:41:36

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt opened the October 1, 2025 briefing — the first day of the government shutdown — and introduced a special guest, Vice President JD Vance, who delivered remarks and took questions. Leavitt’s account: House Republicans had passed a nonpartisan clean bill to extend funding until November 21, nearly every Senate Democrat had voted against it, and the same kind of clean bill had passed 13 times under the previous administration. “The Democrats shut down the government because President Trump and the Republicans will not force American taxpayers to pay for free healthcare for illegal aliens,” she said, citing the $37 trillion national debt.

The Vice President’s questioning included his X exchange with Senator Chuck Schumer, in which he had quoted Schumer’s 1996 House-floor words against benefits for illegal immigrants: “Chuck Schumer once recognized that it was disastrous to give illegal aliens rewards for breaking the law. Now he wants to shut down the government unless we reward illegal aliens for breaking the law.”

Why it matters

The shutdown’s opening-day briefing, with the Vice President at the podium beside the Press Secretary, is the administration’s founding statement of its shutdown position. It is recorded on the Elections & Governance hub.

Scoreboard watch

The shutdown’s day-one positions, as stated at the briefing, are recorded here as candidate items for the weekly scoreboard.

Sources: The White House, “Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Briefs Members of the Media, Oct. 1, 2025,” The White House, October 1, 2025 (official upload, embedded above). All figures and characterizations as stated at the briefing.