Mike Johnson Repeatedly Freaks Out as Shutdown Arguments Crumble
Even Fox News pushed back on the House speaker’s claims.

House Speaker Mike Johnson flailed Wednesday as reporters fact-checked his claim that Democrats had shut down the government because they wanted to lavish undocumented immigrants with free health care.
During an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, Johnson was brutally fact-checked on his outlandish claims about the Democratic proposal to extend tax credits for the Affordable Care Act that were set to expire at the end of the year. Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for those tax credits, and an estimated 5.1 million Americans will lose their insurance by 2034 if ACA funding expires at the end of the year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
“The Democratic proposal is designed to prevent millions of Americans from losing their health insurance, losing Medicaid coverage, or paying higher health care premiums. Why are you against that?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“That’s an absurd statement, what you said there,” Johnson said.
“It’s a factual statement,” Stephanopoulos replied.
Johnson insisted his effort to pass a clean continuing resolution had been thwarted by Democrats. “The Democrats said instead that they wanted to give health care to illegal aliens instead of keeping critical services provided by the American citizens,” Johnson said.
The speaker didn’t fare any better Tuesday night. While speaking to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Johnson accused the Democrats of shuttering the government “because we won’t agree to restore health care to illegal aliens.”
But Collins knew that wasn’t what they were asking for.
“As you know, people who are here in the United States illegally have never been eligible for the Obamacare subsidies, for Medicare, for Medicaid,” she pressed. “So, what exactly are you saying that they’re trying to do when you talk about giving free health care to them?”
Johnson dodged the question, claiming that many people who were ineligible for Medicaid were receiving benefits, and that in Democrats’ counterproposal, taxpayer money would go toward benefits for undocumented immigrants.
Collins pointed out that this was impossible. “It’s against federal law for people who are here illegally to get health care,” she said.
“Yes! Yes, that’s why our reforms are so important, to enforce all that,” Johnson said.
“But I didn’t see that in the Democratic proposal that people who are here illegally should get health care—” Collins pushed back.
“Nope, because they don’t have the level of specification that we have in our bill, that will unbind that, all those things that the CBO just verified, will be reversed,” Johnson said. “Can’t afford to do that.”
“But you see my point—” Collins said.
“No, I don’t see your point,” Johnson said. “No, that is a red herring.”
In fact, it was Johnson who decided to keep the House out of session Tuesday as the government shutdown loomed.
Earlier Tuesday night, Johnson tried the same line on Fox News, claiming that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer “wants to give free health care to illegal immigrants.”
“But he says that’s not true,” said Fox News’s Laura Ingraham. “Democrats say that it’s expanding Medicaid, getting dollars back for Medicaid, and it leaves some room for unauthorized immigrants.”
“Wrong,” Johnson said. “Read his own legislation.”
The House speaker claimed that undoing Republicans’ health care reforms would keep some undocumented immigrants on federal health insurance.