Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) stated on Sunday that the Republican government’s funding bill is not partisan, especially with a closure deadline approaching this Wednesday.
During an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Johnson addressed a proposal made by Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who criticized it as “a reckless partisan bill that continues to gut American health care.” He emphasized that Jeffries’s proposal is “dead on arrival.”
“That statement from my friend Hakeem is completely absurd,” Johnson remarked to CNN’s Jake Tupper. “There’s nothing partisan about this solution. Seriously, we didn’t introduce any partisan priorities or policy riders at all.”
He went on to explain, “The only instance where health care comes into play is when we consider Hakeem Jeffries’s colleague, Chuck Schumer’s request to cut $50 billion from rural hospitals. We actually added a significant fund through a comprehensive bill we passed earlier, which included tax cuts for working families. They seem to want to dismiss all the funds I’ve outlined,” Johnson added.
Democrats, however, have pushed back against the notion that the GOP’s ongoing resolution is truly “clean” and nonpartisan, claiming that it perpetuates spending and policies that were initially shaped by Democrats earlier this year in a budget bill.
“If they continue with policies stemming from the law they passed in the House on a strictly partisan basis, how can it be considered clean?” Jeffries questioned this week. “It’s not clean; it’s messy. It’s not bipartisan; it’s very much partisan.”
Democratic leaders have also noted that Republicans may struggle to rally support within their party without addressing the Affordable Care Act subsidies that will expire at year’s end.
“The debate over Obamacare subsidies is something that needs resolution by the end of the year. We can have discussions later, but right now, we’re focused on keeping the government open,” Johnson stated in his Sunday interview.
