WASHINGTON ― As the federal government shutdown enters its second week with little signal of ending anytime quickly, Republicans are starting to understand they’re in a unique struggle than they initially thought, and it’s about a problem the place they’re at a definite drawback.
Chatting with reporters and TV cameras at a press convention on the Capitol on Monday, Home Speaker Mike Johnson appeared wanting to undercut Democrats’ place as champions of reasonably priced well being care, which they’ve cited as their cause for refusing to vote for a Republican invoice to fund the federal government.
“Let me look proper into the digicam and let you know clearly: Republicans are those involved about well being care,” Johnson mentioned. “Republicans are the social gathering working across the clock to repair well being care.”
The emphatic assertion about Republicans working to repair well being care is one thing of a rhetorical shift from Johnson, who has for the previous two weeks largely bashed Democrats for arbitrarily demanding well being coverage concessions on a “clear” authorities funding invoice and dubiously accused them of supporting free well being look after unauthorized immigrants.
The shift comes after Senate Democrats held their floor in a 3rd vote on reopening the federal government on Friday ― and after a weekend of polling displaying voters largely blame President Donald Trump and the GOP for a shutdown, and are overwhelmingly supportive of the well being care subsidies Democrats are asking for, with 78% of the general public, together with 57% of self-identified “MAGA Republicans,” believing they need to be prolonged, in keeping with a poll from KFF.
However essentially the most worrying ballot outcome for Republicans could come from a CBS News/YouGov survey which discovered a 36% plurality imagine the shutdown is primarily about well being care, in comparison with a mere 5% who mentioned it was about immigration, reflecting much more voters are shopping for the Democrats’ fundamental body of the shutdown than the GOP’s. (Republicans on Monday pointed to a poll last month through which 65% of voters mentioned Democrats shouldn’t shut the federal government if their calls for aren’t met; the ballot additionally confirmed extra voters would blame Republicans for a shutdown.)
Democrats began the shutdown with multiple television spots on the air driving residence their well being care focused-message in key districts, whereas the GOP seems to up to now have spent considerably much less on the shutdown advert wars. It’s all left Republicans transferring to catch as much as a struggle they didn’t understand they had been having.
Johnson mentioned Republicans had taken motion to “repair” well being care, pointing to the $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts they enacted as a part of the so-called “One Huge Stunning Invoice.” However the laws isn’t very popular, main Republicans to rebrand it because the “Working Households Tax Reduce Act.” The invoice is anticipated to trim Medicaid enrollment by about 10 million individuals.
Johnson steered Monday that the Republican well being care agenda stays a piece in progress.
“Well being care is damaged in America. It’s too costly. The standard of care must rise. We’d like extra entry for extra individuals,” Johnson mentioned Monday. “We now have a number of concepts to do this, however that subject is up for debate within the subsequent three months.”
The speaker additionally highlighted efforts by Republicans to barter with Democrats. He spontaneously revealed he’d lately had a “fruitful dialog” with Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) about proposals to increase expiring tax subsidies that assist 22 million People afford their month-to-month medical health insurance premiums. He mentioned he would permit the Home to vote on well being care laws if Democrats first agreed to reopen the federal government.
Murray responded on social media that Democrats nonetheless need well being care concessions as a situation of reopening the federal government.
“Premium hikes are going out THIS MONTH. We’d like a deal that reopens the federal government & stops premiums from doubling,” Murray mentioned.
In the meantime, conservative Home Republicans appear nervous that their leaders would possibly lower a cope with Democrats to increase the subsidies.
“Making such concessions would make us look weak, saying we’re for one factor and doing one other,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) wrote Monday in a letter to The Wall Avenue Journal. “If Republicans govern by ballot and fail to seize this second, they’ll personal it. Don’t anticipate me to.”
Marc Quick, a former chief of employees to then-Vice President Mike Pence, equally predicted the GOP would fold on the difficulty quickly. (Quick, a fiscal conservative, opposes extending the subsidies.)
“Republicans are going to cave on this in the long run,” he mentioned on NBC’s “Meet The Press.” “The underside line is that Democrats had been actually shrewd once they put the Obamacare subsidies within the plan.”
The Senate will maintain one other vote on a Home-passed funding invoice Monday night. It’s not clear if any further Democrats will defect to the Republican facet.
Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) mentioned that if Speaker Johnson actually needed to “repair” well being care, there must be no want to attend till after the federal government opens to chop a deal.
“If he’s critical about decreasing prices and defending the well being care of the American individuals, why wait? Democrats are able to do it now,” Schumer mentioned.
For the reason that shutdown began final week, Johnson, Jeffries, Schumer and Senate Majority Chief John Thune (R-S.D.) have held every day press conferences and given frequent TV interviews. On Monday, Johnson seemingly lamented the every day messaging grind.
“I hate to tug you all out and undergo all the main points, however I’ve to placed on the case time and again as a result of repetition apparently is the important thing to this,” Johnson mentioned. “This isn’t a Republican shutdown. It’s a Schumer/Democrat shutdown.”
