House Speaker Mike Johnson takes playing dumb to a whole new level.
At a press conference on Monday highlighting the so-called “Democratic shutdown,” Johnson even claimed that the Republicans who control the White House, Senate and House of Representatives are not running the government.
“Democrats are being asked to open government. They keep saying Republicans are in charge of government. We are not – not in the Senate!” Johnson explain. “Sixty votes control the Senate. Not a supermajority.”
As the government shutdown enters its fourth week, Johnson has given up on actually leading the party and turned playing dumb into an art form. In his daily address to the press, Johnson keep insisting He has not heard of his administration doing anything bad in defense of President Donald Trump’s administration.
On Monday, Johnson also claim Cutting trillions in Medicaid funding actually “strengthens” the program. Republicans, meanwhile, have repeatedly refused to guarantee continuation of basic Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year.
Johnson also doubled down on the Trump administration’s Latest excuse Despite previous guidance from the USDA, there is still no funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which begins in November. “I was given a summary of the entire legal analysis and it certainly looked legal to me,” he explainclaiming emergency funds need to be weighed against school lunches and infant formula.
The speaker used the shutdown to expel Republican lawmakers back to their districts for an extended vacation, where Johnson was claim On Monday, they were doing “some of the most meaningful work of their careers.” Crucially, the speaker also took advantage of the government shutdown as an excuse Don’t let the duly elected Arizona Democrat take the oath of office as he prepares to put his final signature on a petition to force a vote on releasing Jeffrey Epstein’s government documents.
