WASHINGTON – Congressman Byron Donalds (R-FL) joined Special Coverage on Real America's Voice to discuss Chuck Schumer's government shutdown, his background, and what's at stake for New York City with Zohran Mamdani.

Watch the full interview here.

"They [Democrats] would rather shut down the government to prove that they can stand up to Donald Trump and get healthcare for illegal aliens. They are not standing for the American people":

"Honestly, I think we're probably going to see an end to this probably over the next two weeks, but we'll see. And the reason why is a lot of paychecks for a lot of different aspects of the government have to go out at the end of the month. The military obviously being the major one, but you have TSA, air traffic controllers, DEA, ATF, the FBI, a lot of other sensitive groups that do work in our government where you never hear about them, they just do their job but they're actually doing the right thing and working hard on behalf of our country. All that is going to start to hit. Funding for WIC, funding for SNAP benefits, all that's starting to hit. And so Republicans, we've been consistent. Every time a vote is on the Senate floor, Republicans have voted to keep the government open or to reopen the government. There are three Democrats who are voting with Republicans. John Fetterman, Angus King, Cortez Masto out of Nevada, they are voting with Republicans. But you have Chuck Schumer who right now is trying to be a tough guy. He's trying to demonstrate that he's tough enough to stand up to Donald Trump, and this is a political shutdown of the making of the Democratic left. The Democratic left wants obscene funding for healthcare for illegals. That's what they want. They want to  spend another trillion and a half dollars on top of what we're spending today because somewhere in their mind, they thought they won the presidential election last year and they really won last year. They didn't, they lost, but they can't take that, and their base is so radical they would rather shut down the government to prove that they can stand up to Donald Trump and get healthcare for illegal aliens. They are not standing for the American people. I think this comes to an end over the next two week because that reality is going to continue to be talked about day after day after day. When you got John Fetterman out there saying that this of the Democrats making, you got a problem."

"A lot of Republicans have left New York. They've come here [Florida]":

"I don't want to go that far. I think what needs to happen, honestly, and this is more on the conservative side of what's happening in New York. We have to begin to break the mold of what campaigning in New York looks like. It's not just about speeches to groups. It can't just be about door knocking. It has to be, you know, walking the streets engaging New Yorkers on a day-to-day basis. I think, I think the campaign and marketing and focus has to be much more guerrilla marketing if you're going to be successful in a venue like New York. A lot of Republicans have left New York. They've come here [Florida]. They've gone to other places. But that doesn't mean that the independent voters that are there or even the registered Democrat voters who just vote Democrat, they still want the same thing that everybody else wants. They want safe streets, they want an economy that's going to work, they want a pathway of success for their children. And I think that Republicans, conservatives in New York, if that is the bedrock of what they're campaigning for, I think they'll be much more successful into the future."

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