Johnson joined CNN, Fox News today to discuss how Senate Democrats continue to prioritize partisanship over pay for U.S. troops
WASHINGTON — Today, Speaker Johnson joined Jake Tapper on CNN’s The Lead and Laura Ingraham on Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle to discuss Senate Democrats repeatedly voting against paying U.S. troops and reopening the federal government to satisfy their Far-Left base.
Watch Speaker Johnson on CNN here, on Fox News here.
On Senate Democrats refusing to reopen the government:
The only person who can answer that is Chuck Schumer. And he’s got to get permission from Bernie and AOC, I think, before he can ever vote to open the government again. I’m not sure he ever will, Laura. So, we need five reasonable Democrats in the Senate to do the right thing and vote to keep the lights on so that we can continue all the debates on all the outstanding issues. We have a lot of things to do, but they’ve turned the lights off and real people are hurting. And let’s not ever forget the counterproposal that they put on the table is absolute nonsense. They want to spend a trillion and a half additional dollars on a simple seven-week funding measure and all the things you listed, $200 billion for legal aliens to get free health care on the backs of American taxpayers. They’re going to get half a billion dollars to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to prop up leftist news organizations.
On Democrats pulling stunts instead of serving their constituents:
Instead of doing publicity stunts like AOC likes to do, instead of making social media videos, Republicans are working. We have been working. Right now, they’re in their districts doing very valuable work. At our press conference this morning, I highlighted some of the very important things they’re doing right now. What are they doing? They’re trying to help their constituents navigate through this crisis that has been created like by Democrats like AOC. She voted on September 19 in the House to block the pay for troops, TSA agents, Border Patrol agents, air traffic controllers; to stop the services to nutrition supplemental programs to women, infants, and children. She voted to stop services to the elderly and disabled and veterans. That’s her voting record. And she’s trying to obscure that fact and blame Republicans. I am always open to negotiating, but we had the negotiations in the House and the mutual agreement by Republicans and Democrats who were appropriators, who were working on the government funding, was to extend it for seven weeks to November 21 so they would have time to finish the appropriations process. AOC engaged in political stunts, as did Hakeem Jefferies, and voted against it for their own partisan political purposes. And they have created this mess.
On Democrat falsehoods about Rep. elect-Grijalva’s swearing-in:
When my dear friend and colleague from Louisiana, Julia Letlow, was elected under very similar circumstances in 2021, her late husband passed away, died of COVID, and they had a special election to fill the seat and Julia won it. Nancy Pelosi took 25 days to administer the oath to Julia. Now, we didn’t have press conferences to go banging on doors and make a big thing of it, because we understood that is the regular process and tradition of the House. I’m doing exactly the same thing. I have said a thousand times in response to this, I am happy and anxious to administer the vote to Rep. Grijalva, and we will do that as soon as we return to the legislative session. We need Chuck Schumer and the Democrats and the Senate to do that. It is ironic that the two senators from Arizona who are making noise about this are voting to keep the government shut down. If they want rep Grijalva to take the oath, they can vote. That’s Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego. They can vote to do this.
Let me say this right now though, Jake, Grijalva should be working for her constituents. I don’t know what she’s doing. I keep seeing their political stunt videos where they’re knocking on the door and she’s not there. She should be in her office. She should be working or in the district for her constituents. She’s already hired 16 staffers. She should be taking constituent calls. She should be directing and helping them navigate the crisis that her colleagues here have created for her constituents. We we’re happy to administer the oath. We’re going to do it as soon as we get back, but we’ve got to get the lights on first. We got to make sure that our troops are being paid and our Border Patrol agents down in Arizona are being paid.
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