Johnson Blames Dems For Creating Healthcare Crisis Via ‘Obamacare’

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is putting the blame squarely on Democrats for prolonging the ongoing government shutdown—now entering its sixth week—while demanding more than $1 trillion in new spending tied to the failing Obamacare healthcare program.

Democrats have refused to back a clean continuing resolution (CR) to reopen the government, blocking funding repeatedly in the Senate after the GOP-led House passed the bill with a majority vote. In the upper chamber, where 60 votes are required to overcome a filibuster, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has ordered his caucus to oppose the legislation unless it includes new Obamacare subsidies set to expire next month.

Republicans have accused Democrats of holding federal workers and families hostage to protect the Affordable Care Act’s costly insurance subsidies, which overwhelmingly benefit large insurance companies. GOP leaders say they are open to discussing healthcare reforms once the government reopens—but not while Democrats use the shutdown as leverage for ideological spending demands.

At a Monday press conference, Speaker Johnson did not mince words.

“It is the Democrats who created Obamacare. It is the Democrats who did that without any Republican votes,” Johnson said, referring to the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act under former President Barack Obama.

He continued:

“It’s the Democrats who by extension have cost the American taxpayers and people who have health insurance, have made their costs skyrocket. It is their policies that made that happen. And instead of reforming it, the Democrats don’t reform Obamacare. They want to subsidize it. They want to spend more taxpayer dollars.”

Johnson noted that most of the new spending Democrats are demanding would flow directly to insurance companies, inflating prices further.

“That, by the way, goes mostly to insurance companies, which makes the cost rise further. That’s the Democrats’ plan,” he said. “When they passed Obamacare in 2010, they called it the ‘Affordable Care Act.’ We know the truth is exactly the opposite. By some estimates, premiums have risen 60 percent.”

Johnson contrasted the GOP’s record with Democrats’ failed promises, emphasizing that Republicans are leading the real fight for affordable healthcare.

“Republicans are the ones fighting to save healthcare. Why? It’s not just talking points to us. We do this. We have ideas and we have already implemented ideas and measures to reduce costs, increase access and quality, and eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse,” he said.

He added that the GOP’s reforms have already removed millions of ineligible enrollees from Medicaid rolls, preserving resources for the truly vulnerable:

“We got millions of ineligible enrollees off the program and it preserved it. It strengthened Medicaid for the people who rely upon it, which is the elderly, disabled, and young pregnant women, as we always use an example.”

Rejecting the Democratic narrative that the shutdown is about healthcare, Johnson accused the left of manufacturing a crisis to score political points.

“No, [the shutdown] is not about healthcare. That is a false claim and everybody knows it. Everyone in America, and certainly everybody in this room, understands that this is about something else. It’s about FEAR [of the radical left],” he declared.

On Fox News Sunday, Johnson also praised President Donald J. Trump for his persistence in trying to reopen the government despite Democratic obstruction.

“I think what you’re seeing there is a reflection of his anger, his real frustration that the government is closed. He is a big-hearted president,” Johnson told anchor Shannon Bream.

“He wants everybody to get their services, and the health services for veterans and SNAP benefits and all the rest. And he’s tried everything he can, and he is now exhausting his ability. The courts are now saying you can’t go any further. So he’s just desperate for the government to open. He’s tried everything.”

While Democrats continue to stall, Republicans insist that the only thing standing between Americans and a reopened government is Chuck Schumer’s political theater.