See below for video and highlights from Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA11) on CNN and on MS NOW earlier today.
- Rep. Walkinshaw: “Well, look, Republicans have had all year, and they control the White House, the House, and the Senate. They’ve had all year to address this. And what they’ve done is at the very last minute cobbled together a plan. a plan that doesn’t address the skyrocketing premiums that tens of millions of Americans will face starting January 1. A plan that offers junk health insurance coverage that will drive up costs for millions of Americans as well. So, it’s too little too late from the Republicans. Democrats have put forward a bill for a clean three-year extension of the enhanced premium tax credits that will prevent the most dramatic insurance premium increases.”
- Rep. Walkinshaw: “Senator Thune and Republicans call it a subsidy when it’s for the middle class and for working people. They call it a tax credit when it’s one of their massive giveaways to billionaires and to corporations. So, this is the same crowd that passed the biggest health care cut in American history, trillion dollar cut to Medicaid to give tax cuts to their donors. Look, Democrats want to solve this issue. That’s why we have a bill with a discharge petition to force a vote. We have 214 signatures on that discharge petition. All we need is four courageous Republicans to join us and we can get this done. That could happen this week.”
- Rep. Walkinshaw: “There are two discharge petitions. There’s one there’s actually one other one from a Democrat, others from Republicans. They have 20 to 30 signatures. Quite frankly, there’s not enough time to get to 218 for those. The
discharge petition for a clean three-year extension has 214 signatures. We’re almost there. We just need a couple Republicans to join it. We can get that done.” - Rep. Walkinshaw: “I think Senator Cassidy is moving in the right direction there. I think he would have a hard time selling that plan to Republicans in the House and to Speaker Johnson because the fundamental issue here is Speaker Johnson is once again kowtowing to the hardest of the hardcore Republicans in the House who will not vote or support any extension of the premium tax credits. And in fact, I think Speaker Johnson is fearful that his Speakerhip will be imperiled if he puts such an extension on the floor, even if it were paired with, as Senator Cassidy said, some additional money for health savings accounts.”
- Rep. Walkinshaw: “…obviously the [Brown University] assailant is still on the run and loose with respect to the situation at Brown and we don’t know the circumstances and what happened there, the motive. We really know very little about that incident. A terrible, terrible tragedy. I do have broader concerns that we’ve seen the Trump administration disinvest and take resources and investigations away from, just to give an example, illegal gun trafficking, which we know does play a role in the epidemic of gun violence we have in this country. So, it’s too soon to say. I don’t want to make any comments about the situation at Brown. It’s still unfolding. But broadly, I’m deeply concerned that they’ve taken resources and investigators away from gun trafficking, child sex trafficking, transnational criminal organizations to focus on rounding people up in Home Depot parking lots. I just don’t think that’s the right approach from a public safety perspective long term.”
Rep. Walkinshaw: “I lay awake at night wondering WHY Donald Trump hasn’t released those Department of Justice files…Absolutely, the Department of Justice has emails. We now suspect that they have video evidence as well. So the context for the photos we’ve received that have been released and not released are in those files. And look, Donald Trump could release the files today. The deadline’s Friday. He could release them today, Monday, as he could have released them for many many months. He’s chosen not to do that. I lay awake at night wondering WHY Donald Trump hasn’t released those Department of Justice files.”
Trump’s @TheJusticeDept is under subpoena to provide Epstein material to Congress, but they haven’t complied.
The law now says the files must be released this Friday. Trump could release them today. Why hasn’t he?
With new photos surfacing, the questions continue to mount. pic.twitter.com/TNA0H3lNhQ
— Rep. James Walkinshaw (@Rep_Walkinshaw) December 15, 2025
