Johnson says ACA negotiations can’t happen until the government reopens

WASHINGTON — Speaker Mike Johnson resisted calls to negotiate on expiring health care subsidies Sunday, citing an end-of-year deadline that’s an “eternity” away and blaming Democrats for the ongoing shutdown as they hold the line on health care changes.

“What I’m saying is we have to keep the lights on in the building so that we can have those discussions and debates,” Johnson said in an interview with BLN, his first sit-down with the network as speaker of the House. “Republicans have made no assertions about how that will wind up, but Dec. 31 is when the subsidies end, and so we have effectively three months to negotiate. You know, in the White House and in the halls of Congress, that’s like an eternity. So we need the month of October to figure this out. There’s a lot of thought that’s gone into that on both sides of the aisle, but we need folks in good faith to come around the table and have that discussion, and we can’t do it when the government is shut down.”

Democrats have signaled that a deal on Affordable Care Act subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of the year, might be a way to end the ongoing shutdown stalemate. When those temporary subsidies lapse, millions of Americans will see health care costs spike. Johnson, meanwhile, has said that the government must reopen before negotiations begin on these credits. But Americans are making their open enrollment decisions in October and November.

Does this mean a deal might come after Americans have already locked in their health care choices on the exchanges, decisions they’re making in October and November? “Not necessarily,” according to Johnson.

“We have the entire month of October. Most of the notices for the insurance companies go out in early November, and that’s a few weeks ahead of us. Now, as soon as we get the government open sooner, the better, so that those things can be resolved. And that’s what we’re saying,” he said.

Watch the full interview Monday on “Way Too Early with Ali Vitali” at 5 a.m. ET, and “Morning Joe” starting at 6 a.m. ET.

Asked why Democrats should trust him to do this, Johnson cited an “open line of communication” among leaders. But Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on “Meet the Press” Sunday that his party hasn’t heard from GOP counterparts since a short Oval Office meeting last week.

Following that meeting, the president posted an AI-generated deepfake video of Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and has since doubled down on the vitriolic language he’s used on social media to blame Democrats for the shutdown.

Pressed on whether Trump’s posts — that have variously depicted White House budget director Russell Vought as the Grim Reaper taking a scythe to Congress and Jeffries in a sombrero with a mustache — are helpful in a messaging battle Republicans could be losing, Johnson attempted to distance himself from the partisan fray.

“I mean, look, I’m working on the policy,” he said. “There’s politics to this as well, right? And those are both components. Now we live in a social media age, and people use it. I think President Trump uses it as effectively as anybody ever has. And I told my friend Hakeem, who is my friend, I said, ‘Man, don’t pay attention to it. Don’t respond to it, because it makes it worse.’ I learned that the hard way, a long time ago. … The key is, for all of us, everybody on both sides, don’t play into it.”

A Washington Post poll from Oct. 1 showed 47% of Americans “mainly” blame Republicans for the shutdown compared to 30% who blame Democrats, and several other polls similarly showed voters more likely to blame Trump and the GOP.

That’s not necessarily great news for Johnson, whose speakership has been defined, in large part, by his proximity to Trump and his policy agenda. Asked about recent comments made by one of his members, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who says Johnson’s speakership will last only as long as Trump supports him, the speaker vehemently disagreed.

“[Massie] doesn’t have a point,” Johnson said. “We’ve been demonstrating this over and over. I’ve been speaker for two years now. It’s not a job I ever aspired to. Frankly, I didn’t know I’d have it, but I’m trying to keep steady hands to wheel in very turbulent times. I’m trying to work in good faith with people on both sides of the aisle, and we’ve done that.”

Ali Vitali

Ali Vitali is BLN’s senior congressional correspondent and the host of “Way Too Early.” She is the author of “Electable: Why America Hasn’t Put a Woman in the White House … Yet.”