Mullin says Republicans to blame for shutdown 

“This is squarely on the Republicans in terms of who is responsible for this shutdown,” Mullin said. “The Republicans who control Congress and the White House have refused to negotiate in good faith, and Democrats are going to hold the line when it comes to health care.” 

Daniel Torunian, first vice chair of San Mateo County’s Republican Party, argued that politicians should work to keep government open at all costs and deal with policy issues like health care separately. 

“Regardless of Democrat, Republican or no party preference, anytime you see government shut down, it’s a very unfortunate event. We elect these leaders to do a job,” he said. “I don’t think a resolution to keep government open should then have to have the burden with other policy decisions. That’s not the time to be making policy decisions.” 

While some essential government services will remain — like the postal service, military function and Social Security — Mullin said the White House has “not been forthcoming” about what functions will be affected. 

Details haven’t been provided on specific federal locations across the country, including in San Mateo County, that may be closed down. 

Democratic leadership has argued that it’s Republicans who have been unwilling to come to the table on negotiations around health care policy, a fight they’re continuing since the July passage of Trump’s sweeping policy agenda. 

The One Big Beautiful Bill codified deep cuts to Social Security and Medicaid, the government-funded health care program that serves around 72 million Americans, and increased the national debt by upwards of $3.3 trillion, to pay for tax cuts, immigration enforcement and increase national defense spending. 

The cuts could leave nearly 12 million more Americans uninsured over the next 10 years, including more than 2 million individuals in California. 

Refusal to extend ACA-era subsidies would be the latest chapter in saddling Americans with unaffordable health care prices, with up to 22 million individuals seeing health care premiums rise, Mullin said, and Democrats are ready to hold the line on this issue. 

“This is just the latest chapter in Republicans trying to undo that law, and we are holding firm on that issue,” he said. “We need to do something in terms of extending those subsidies, and we want restoration of cuts to Medicaid.” 

Both parties should be able to come together to discuss key issues like health care and immigration reform outside of the shutdown environment, Torunian said. 

“They should bring forward the appropriate legislation, and we should deal with it on its merits,” he said. 

Democratic minorities in both the House and Senate have made it challenging if not impossible for Democrats to introduce and pass major legislation in a congressional environment largely fundamentally divided on partisan lines. 

While Mullin agreed that Americans desire a functioning government, he maintained that Republicans were creating an environment that made bipartisan work impossible. 

“We need to have a Washington that works in a bipartisan way, absolutely, but we need a governing partner willing to come to the table,” he said. “They refuse to negotiate in any meaningful way, and have been ramming budget bills, tax bills and policy through, without welcoming input from the Democratic Party.”