Dem Rep. Julie Johnson: Shutdown GOP’s Fault, We Can’t Vote for Their Bill to Reopen Government

On Monday’s “NewsNation Now,” Rep. Julie Johnson (D-TX) argued that the government shutdown is the fault of Republicans and said that “If the Republicans want to reopen the government, then they need to put a bill on the floor that Democrats can support.”

After Johnson said there is a “Republican shutdown”, host Connell McShane played video of House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) saying that Republicans need Democratic votes to end the shutdown because they need 60 votes in the Senate and Democrats are voting to shut down the government. McShane then asked, “Technically, that is true, Congresswoman, right? If they did — as we’ve been talking about for weeks, the CR, they could reopen the government, but it — everybody keeps wondering what’s going to happen to break this, which side gives and on what, is it SNAP, is it health care, is it air traffic controllers, what’s going to break the camel’s back, so to speak?”

Johnson responded, “It’s probably going to be all of it, unfortunately. But let me just address what the Speaker said, the Republicans have the ability to bring a bill to the floor, Democrats don’t have that ability. They have the ability to bring up what we vote for. They have brought up a bill that is patently untenable to Democrats. … If the Republicans want to reopen the government, then they need to put a bill on the floor that Democrats can support. Just because — they’re in charge, I don’t have the ability to set the House to go vote on a bill, the Republicans do, that is the Speaker’s responsibility, that is the Republicans in charge. So, if they want a bill that can pass, that can reopen the government, then they need to come to D.C.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett