California Rep. Kevin Kiley keeps working as Congress stays home : NPR

Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., listens to testimony during a House Judiciary Subcommittee on Violent Crime field hearing in Charlotte, North Carolina, September 29. In a recent interview on Morning editionKiley discusses her decision to continue working during the government shutdown.

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Nell Redmond/AP

As the government shutdown continues, most House members have returned home under Speaker Mike Johnson. But one Republican, Rep. Kevin Kiley of California, still shows up to his Capitol Hill office every morning.

“I’m looking for any constructive conversations to get us out of this mess,” Kiley said. Morning editionIt’s Michel Martin. “The good news is I’ve received a number of them from people on both sides of the aisle. The bad news is the government is still paralyzed.”

Kiley, who represents California’s 3rd District, which includes Yosemite and Death Valley national parks, criticized Johnson’s decision to suspend the House while the shutdown continues.

“It’s even more urgent as the government is shut down and we’re starting to see people lose their food assistance benefits. We’re seeing flight delays and all the other costs compounded for the American people,” he said.

Kiley says the break froze normal work.

“We have 20 committees in the House of Representatives, countless subcommittees that were supposed to do things each of the last four weeks,” Kiley said.

Johnson argues that keeping lawmakers home puts pressure on the Senate to act on a seven-week funding bill. Kiley disagrees.

“Clearly it’s not working,” he said. “Sometimes you have to work with people who have a different position in order to find common ground.”

Democrats criticized Johnson’s handling of the impasse, accusing the president of using the pause to delay the swearing-in of Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, who won a special election to fill the seat of her late father, Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona. Johnson rejected that claim, saying the delay was unrelated. Kiley said he supports admitting Adelita Grijalva without delay.

“She won her election. I don’t even know why that’s a problem,” he said.

He added that he was open to negotiations on the Affordable Care Act’s expiring subsidies — a key reason Democrats declined to support the current funding bill.

“There is enough interest on both sides for a deal,” Kiley said. “I don’t see why we’re not talking about it now.”

For now, he continues to show up to his office every morning, a gesture to remind his colleagues that Congress should still be working.

“We should have a functioning House of Representatives,” Kiley said.

This live interview was edited for digital by Treye Green.