Democrats are trying to blame Republicans for the healthcare crisis that “they themselves” created, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said on Wednesday, discussing the Democrat government shutdown.
Democrats, he said, have rejected the GOP’s clean proposal to reopen the government a dozen times now and continue to refuse to cooperate under the guise of the healthcare crisis — something Johnson said Democrats created in the first place.
“In their desperation now, they’re trying their very best to somehow blame Republicans for the forthcoming healthcare crisis that they themselves created by way of — just very quick review for the record, because they’re trying to obscure this as well,” Johnson began, walking through how we got here:
Let’s remember the true origins of the boondoggle that is American health care. Under Obamacare, Democrats wrote that bill. They passed it into law without a single Republican vote. During the COVID pandemic, Democrats created temporary Obamacare credits, again without a single Republican vote. Democrats then voted to extend those credits. They set the expiration date on and then when they held the majority in the Senate, it was Democrats who chose not to extend those credits beyond this year. Now, as we approach their own self imposed expiration date, now they are breathlessly insisting to you and on all the interviews that somehow it’s a Republican crisis.
“Give me a break,” Johnson remarked. “The facts are the facts. We are up here saying, sharing the simple fact and truth. As John Adams said, facts are stubborn things.”
The Speaker emphasized that Democrats are the ones who manufactured the entire situation “without a single Republican vote.”
“And now, when the chickens are coming back home to roost, they’re trying to blame the other team,” he said, deeming it “utter nonsense.”
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Johnson acknowledged that healthcare is a complicated issue and that there are “hundreds” of views on it. But Republicans, he said, do not want to attempt to solve it in a “backroom deal,” which is what Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has wanted.
“Chuck Schumer has been suggesting that four leaders should go into a smoke filled back room like they used to do in the old days, and create this solution. It’s not a possible thing to do whenever appropriate. It’s not possible to put on a continuing resolution, because it’s such a complex issue,” Johnson emphasized, stressing that complicated issues such as healthcare deserve what he described as “deep thought and deliberation.”
“That’s how this system works here. And as soon as Chuck Schumer reopens the government, all of our members will have an opportunity to engage in the very important discussion of how to make Obamacare affordable. But we won’t engage in Democrats hostage-taking, nor will we pay a ransom,” he made clear. “We certainly won’t engage in their unserious proposals.”
“As long as Democrats continue to act like unserious lawmakers, I’m just going to say this morning, enough is enough,” the Speaker added.
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