Thursday on CNN’s “Inside Politics,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) blamed Democratic lawmakers for disrupting SNAP benefits to low-income Americans by refusing to vote with Republicans to reopen the government.
Johnson said, “They can end it today. They can do it right now. All they have to do is we just need five more Democrats in the Senate to help us reach the 60 vote threshold. We don’t have enough Republicans to to do the right thing on our own. We need them to do the right thing.”
Host Dana Bash said, “Can I just ask you, because you mentioned it, that you all have found ways to pay members of the military, which, you know, people understand, and WIC, which people also understand. But why are you drawing the line now on 40 million Americans who literally will not be able to eat without government assistance? Why not help them in the short term?”
Johnson said, “Dana, I’m not drawing the line.”
Bash said, “And why are they —”
Johnson said, “Wait a minute. Wait. I reject the premise of the question. I’m not drawing the line, the Democrats are drawing the line.”
He added, ‘The Democrats have put the American people in this crisis and they are the ones that have the power to end it. They could do it today.”
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