Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday rejected polls blaming President Donald Trump for the ongoing government shutdown, insisting that Democrats have “dug in their heels” to protect partisan spending while Republicans have repeatedly voted to reopen the government.
“We reject all of this,” the Louisiana Republican said on “Fox News Sunday.” “This isn’t about winning a political contest here. Real people are losing.”
Democrats, Johnson added, “have voted 14 times now to keep the government closed — to block SNAP benefits, to prevent paying the troops.”
Further, the Democrats have “shut the government down over restoring free healthcare for illegal aliens as part of their $1.5 trillion partisan wish list,” he said.
Johnson added that the impact on ordinary Americans is growing, citing millions of families relying on food assistance and other aid programs.
“Forty-two million recipients of SNAP are in jeopardy right now,” he said.
“Women, infants, and children are running out of funds from the nutrition programs that President Trump and the White House have heroically funded so far,” he added. “It’s becoming real for more and more people.”
Asked about Trump’s recent comments urging Senate Republicans to eliminate the filibuster, Johnson said he understood the president’s frustration.
“He’s a big-hearted president who wants everyone to get their services — veterans’ care, SNAP benefits, all of it,” he said.
“He’s tried everything he can to negotiate,” Johnson continued. “The filibuster has traditionally been a safeguard against the worst impulses of the far left, but we’ll see what the Senate does.”
Johnson also rejected Democrat claims that Trump is “using people as pawns,” calling that accusation “absurd.”
He said Trump and House Republicans have offered clean bills to fund the government, while Democrats are using the shutdown “as leverage to please their far-left base.”
Johnson accused Democrat leaders such as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., of “weaponizing hunger” and ignoring bipartisan solutions. He said the president “is bending over backward to take care of the American people.”
On healthcare, Johnson dismissed criticism from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who claims that GOP leaders are withholding their health reform plans.
“That’s absurd,” he said.
“We can’t reveal all of our strategy on conference calls because they’re leaked in real time,” he added. “But our committees have been working around the clock.”
“We published 60 or 70 pages of reform ideas years ago, and we’re finalizing a plan that will bring down premiums,” Johnson said. “Democrats created Obamacare, and premiums are up 60% since 2010. Only Republicans will fix that.”
Turning to foreign policy, Johnson defended recent U.S. strikes on drug-running boats, saying the actions are legally justified and based on “exquisite intelligence.”
“What the president and administration are doing is protecting the homeland — his number one responsibility,” Johnson said.
“Narcoterrorists will be treated like al-Qaida,” he continued. “These boats could kill tens of thousands of Americans.”
Johnson also dismissed reports that he has delayed the swearing-in of Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., to block votes related to the release of disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein documents, calling that claim “ridiculous.”
He said that Grijalva, who would cast the deciding vote in the matter, will be seated when Congress returns to regular session.
Johnson noted that the House Oversight Committee has already released 43,000 pages from Epstein’s estate, including flight logs and financial ledgers.
“We are for maximum transparency — always have been,” he said.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
