House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday, engaging in a sharp exchange with moderator Kristen Welker as he repeatedly placed the blame for the ongoing government shutdown squarely on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and his Democratic colleagues.
Speaker Johnson asserted that the Senate needed to “turn the lights back on” after the House had “did our work” by passing a bipartisan, clean continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government open. He dismissed the Democratic charge that the House’s recess was strategically timed to avoid swearing in a newly elected Democratic congresswoman from Arizona, calling the claim “totally absurd” and a “red herring.”
Instead, the Speaker argued the shutdown was caused by Senate Democrats who have “voted multiple times to keep the government closed.”
He criticized Senator Schumer’s counter-proposal as “not a serious negotiation,” pointing out that it would add “$1.5 trillion in new spending for a simple, seven-week stopgap” and “claw back $50 billion that we put in for rural hospitals.” Johnson suggested the political motivation for Schumer’s stance was fear of a primary challenge from the left in New York.
The interview also focused heavily on the expiring Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) tax credits, which Democrats are demanding be included in any funding bill. Welker pressed Johnson on whether Republicans would commit to extending the credits, noting that over three-quarters of recipients live in states that President Trump won in the 2024 election.
Johnson, however, would not commit to an immediate extension, stating, “We have plenty of time to figure that out, because again, it doesn’t expire until the end of the year.” He committed only to Republicans’ goal of improving health care access and affordability, citing the recent “One Big Beautiful Bill, the Working Families Tax Cut” as evidence. READ: Louisiana Sen. Kennedy Shreds Dems’ Shutdown Demands: ‘Cooking And Dance Workshops’ In Haiti
He defended the Medicaid reforms in that bill, insisting they were not “cuts” but rather were achieved by removing “illegal aliens and able-bodied young men without dependents off of Medicaid,” who he claimed “were never planned to be there in the first place.”
On the issue of potential federal worker layoffs—a move the White House is reportedly preparing for—Johnson called it a “regrettable situation that the president does not want.” He emphasized that the decision for layoffs, instead of the typical furloughs, was being necessitated by the Democratic shutdown, forcing the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to make “tough decisions” to determine “essential programs, policies, and personnel.”
“I want Chuck Schumer to do the right thing… and vote to keep the government open,” Johnson concluded, reiterating his demand for the Senate to pass the House’s funding measure without conditions.
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