Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., accused the Democratic Party of being taken over by far-left “Marxists” on Day 16 of the federal government shutdown.

The leader of the House of Representatives was visibly frustrated while speaking to reporters on Thursday, accusing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other Democrat leaders of prolonging the fiscal standoff for political gain.

“This is not your grandfather’s Democratic Party. It truly has become the far-left, Marxist-left, that are running that whole operation. And it has real effects on real people,” Johnson said.

Senate Democrats have now rejected Republicans’ federal funding plan 10 times.

JOHNSON RAISES STAKES ON SCHUMER AS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN BARRELS INTO WEEK 3

Republicans put forward last month a seven-week extension of fiscal year (FY) 2025 funding levels, called a continuing resolution (CR), aimed at giving congressional negotiators more time to strike a long-term deal for FY2026.

But Democrats in the House and Senate were infuriated by being sidelined in those talks. Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said their caucuses would not accept any deal that does not include serious healthcare concessions, at least extending COVID-19 pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of this year.

Johnson and Republicans have accused Schumer of kowtowing to pressure by progressives after he was key to helping the same funding bill pass the Senate in March, avoiding a shutdown earlier this year. That move saw Schumer face a barrage of attacks from his left flank.

SCREAMING MATCH ERUPTS BETWEEN HAKEEM JEFFRIES, MIKE LAWLER AS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN CHAOS CONTINUES

Sen. Majority Leader John Thune speaks with reporters near his office on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 18, 2025. (Mariam Zuhaib/AP Photo)

“The only explanation for this is that Chuck Schumer does not want to face the heat and the scrutiny and the abuse that he took in March for doing the right, responsible thing by the far-left voices in his party,” Johnson said.

He said the “voices of the party” were Democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., as well as New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.

“Look, Mamdani is on a path, shockingly, sadly, frighteningly, to become the elected mayor of the largest city in America, the once-cradle of capitalism. There is a Marxist rise in the Democratic Party,” Johnson said.

“The old guard — and I’m saying old guard, Chuck Schumer has been here for 44 years — he is not the flavor of the month, and he knows that he’s going to get a challenge. If it’s not AOC, it’ll be another disciple of Mamdani or somebody like that.”

New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani speaks during an interview on “The Story with Martha MacCallum” on Fox News in New York City, Oct. 15, 2025. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

He said Democrats “have to stand for the farthest left ideas, socialism, communism, Marxism, right now to be in favor in the Democratic Party.”

Schumer, in turn, has criticized Johnson for his decision to keep the House in recess while the Senate’s fiscal standoff continues.

“Republican leaders, especially Speaker Johnson, continue to dig in. The speaker has now kept the House Republicans on vacation for three weeks, as if they can make the issue go away by letting House Republicans hide. Well, the American people don’t have time for Republican inaction,” Schumer said Wednesday.

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, said she is skeptical that the federal deployment of the National Guard to cities across the country is legal, as President Trump has moved to send troops to respond to crime.

Speaking Wednesday at the Fortune Most Powerful Women conference in Washington, the mayor was asked about not supporting the use of the National Guard to crackdown on crime.

“I don’t think it’s legal, let me start there, for the National Guard to police Americans on American soil,” Bowser said.

The mayor went on to explain how the National Guard in D.C. is under the authority of the president, while a state’s National Guard is typically controlled by the governor.

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“The mission and the way we use the National Guard — unlike most states where a governor can call up the chief of his National Guard or her National Guard — in D.C., our D.C. National Guard reports to the president,” Bowser said.

“While I can request the National Guard, they are completely federally operated. And so D.C. is a little different than in other places for the D.C. National Guard,” she continued.

The mayor added: “We use the Guard to respond to emergencies. We use the Guard for large scale events. We do not use the Guard or to police our local laws.”

In recent months, Trump has boosted the presence of federal law enforcement in Washington, D.C., in an attempt to cut down on crime. Hundreds of federal agents and National Guard troops have been deployed to the streets of D.C. as part of the federal takeover of the district.

Hundreds of federal agents and National Guard troops have been deployed to the streets of D.C. as part of the federal takeover of the district. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo)

Trump has also deployed troops to several other Democratic-led cities, including Chicago. The city, as well as its home of Illinois, took the federal government to court over the deployment.

A federal appeals court partially returned control of the National Guard in Illinois to the federal government, but it blocked Trump from deploying troops to the streets of Chicago or across Illinois.

Trump had also deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles over the summer to respond to anti-ICE protests sparked by federal immigration raids targeting migrant workers at local businesses. California officials sued over the federal deployment.

‘THEY’RE EMBARRASSING US’: NATIONAL GUARD PRESENCE IN DC SPARKS FIERY CAPITOL CLASH

President Donald Trump has deployed troops to several Democratic-led cities, including Chicago. (AP/Laura Bargfeld)

Bowser said in her remarks on Wednesday that Americans in Washington and across the country should be concerned by what the deployments mean for the nation’s democracy.

“We should all be concerned about the military being used because it’s a slippery slope,” she said.

“You use it for crowd control one day, or presence the next day — it’s not a long jump to using it in other ways that could interfere with the very nature of American democracy,” Bowser said.