Speaker Mike Johnson Accuses Dems Of Lying About CR: 'Every Single Word Of That Is A Lie'

11 hours ago

At today's House Republican leadership press briefing, Speaker Johnson slammed Democrats' claims about the CR.

Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:

https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript

Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00Thank you so much, Mr. Leader.

00:02Thanks for these extraordinary members who are behind us and participating this morning.

00:07I think the leaders stated it well, and others have said it well this morning.

00:11This is a moment of great change in Washington.

00:14It's also a moment of clarity and real contrast.

00:18The contrast was on display last week on the House floor.

00:20It was a shameful display by the Democrats.

00:22They are flailing, as is noted.

00:24They have no leader, no vision, no plan, no platform they can run on, because that was

00:29repudiated in the election.

00:31And they're in a panic mode right now, and so you see them lashing out.

00:34You see increasing profanity.

00:38There are many stories many of you have written about this new track they've taken, the new

00:42strategy where they just scream and shout and curse at everyone.

00:46I don't think that's going to be very productive either.

00:48And you also see the contrast going on this morning.

00:50They either have an issue with reading comprehension, or they are attempting to run one of the most

00:54shameful misinformation campaigns that we've ever seen in our lives.

00:59We filed that – the CR, the continuing resolution, on Saturday, and as was noted,

01:05they had already come out panning the bill that literally had not yet been seen.

01:12They said, quote – this is the House Democrat leadership team's statement on Friday – remember,

01:17the bill was filed on Saturday afternoon.

01:20On Friday, they said, quote, Republicans have decided to introduce a partisan continuing

01:25resolution that threatens to cut funding for health care, nutritional assistance, and

01:29veterans' benefits through the end of the year.

01:32Every single word of that is a lie.

01:33Every single – they just made it up.

01:35They didn't read the bill.

01:36It's nonsense.

01:37People are not buying this.

01:38And you see the contrast between one party, which is leading, moving the ball forward

01:43for the American people, and the other that is just screaming.

01:46Then the Democrats start parroting this talking point in interviews all weekend on CNN.

01:50They said, quote, it's so harmful to the American people.

01:54You know, cutting Medicaid, cutting Medicare, threatening Social Security, cutting veteran

01:57benefits – it's all a lie.

02:00You can all read the bill.

02:01It's 99 pages.

02:02This clean CR contains no poison pill riders, no policy riders there at all.

02:09No cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security, zero.

02:13No cuts to veterans' benefits, zero.

02:15In fact, as was noted, we plus up the accounts for veterans.

02:20And respectfully, I'm just going to say this to every reporter in the room, that if

02:24you're allowing Democrats to make these intentionally false, scurrilous claims without

02:28pushback, then you're aiding and abetting the spreading of this misinformation.

02:33I would just ask you to call them on it.

02:35The American people deserve that.

02:36They deserve that clarity from our press corps.

02:39Make them point it out to you.

02:40They can't, of course.

02:42And now, after weeks of trotting federal workers up to Capitol Hill and onto cable news shows

02:46to protest President Trump's efforts to make the government more efficient, now they're

02:51planning to vote down this simple bill.

02:52They are going to try to shut the government down.

02:54Every House Democrat will participate in this, it looks like.

02:57That would be a shame if it's true.

02:59I hope some of them will have a moment of clarity themselves and do the right thing.

03:03But it looks like they're going to try to shut down the government.

03:05It's a striking new posture for Democrats, who have always said they've just been apoplectic

03:11about the prospect of government shutdowns.

03:13I put a video out about an hour ago on social media.

03:16I encourage you to go see that.

03:17This is their – they have been their own words.

03:18You don't need to trust us on this.

03:21But Catherine Clark, here's one little zinger from her, quote, not only is it irresponsible

03:25and purposefully misleading, but it's also a dangerous precedent to be threatening a

03:30shutdown, unquote.

03:31Now, remember, this is in the last year, years past.

03:34Pramila Jayapal, quote, the tragedy here is all the civilian employees.

03:38It's the employees who are going to suffer, unquote.

03:41AOC, quote, it is not normal to hold 100,000 workers' paychecks hostage.

03:47It is not normal to shut down the government when we don't get what we want, unquote.

03:51I don't think I've ever agreed with her before.

03:53She's exactly right.

03:54Jerry Nadler said, quote, shutdown is really an extremist policy designed to appeal to

03:58an extremist base and hold the whole country hostage.

04:01Yeah, we agree.

04:03So they and all their colleagues need to do the right thing.

04:05Democrats have been insisting they're fighting for federal workers.

04:08You're about to see, again, on vivid display, very clear the contrast.

04:13You will see one team that is working to fund the government and make sure we do the responsible

04:17thing, and you're going to see another posing the CR because they've now exposed the truth.

04:22They're not for federal workers.

04:23They're not for anyone.

04:24All the people they've said in the past that are going to be harmed would be by their votes.

04:29They're using federal employees as props.

04:30They're using Medicaid benefits and Social Security checks as cudgels in this thing.

04:34The threat of government shutdown, they're using it as some sort of attempt to wrestle

04:38power away from the President of the United States, who overwhelmingly won the popular

04:43vote, the Electoral College, in every single swing state.

04:46Here's the bottom line.

04:47If congressional Democrats refuse to support this clean CR, they will be responsible for

04:54every troop who misses a paycheck, for every flight delay from reduced staffing at TSA,

04:59for every negative consequence that comes from shutting down the government.

05:03I understand they have an important retreat this week.

05:06Boy, I'd love to be a fly on the wall at that party.

05:09Comes at a critical time since they don't have a leader, a message, or a platform.

05:13I'm just going to say this.

05:14If our Democrat colleagues want to increase their 21 percent approval rating with the

05:18American public, they ought to start by doing the right thing and keeping the government

05:21open.

05:22I think that would be a great first step.

05:24So I'll stop there.

Speaker Mike Johnson Accuses Dems Of Lying About CR: 'Every Single Word Of That Is A Lie'

Category

Transcript

Recommended