"A guy who says that he's going to rule by the Bible, it's really surprising," Scarborough said. "He lies so effortlessly, he really does. But that poor caller, who's a Republican, who is only asking that our men and women in uniform get paid and that their children be able to get health care during the government shutdown while the speaker is getting paid. He says it's all the Democrats' fault, when he leaves two things out. One, the Democrats actually, as he was, he was fact checked in real time, Democrats have a plan to make sure the military is paid, to make sure that that woman gets the help and the support, and those children get the help and support that they need, and Republicans are blocking it."
"Don't believe me?" he added. "Ask [Rep.] Elise Stefanik, who is also putting a bill on the floor to stop Mike Johnson from blocking payments to the military – Elise is a Republican – to stop the Republican Senate from blocking payments to the military, so that woman and her family and her children can be taken care of. So our men and women in uniform, who may be Republicans, who see a Republican House, a Republican Senate, a Republican White House, a Republican-dominated Supreme Court, sees them blocking the way."
Scarborough said the speaker could act immediately to make sure military service members don't miss a single paycheck, but he's instead using the lapse as leverage to force Democratic concessions in the funding bill.
"This is very simple: Mike Johnson can pick up the phone right now, call Elise Stefanik, 'Elise, we're going to vote, I'm going to call everybody back in and we're going to vote on your your bill today,' and it would pass," Scarborough said, 'and then Chuck Schumer and the Democrats would make sure it would pass on the Senate side, and then it would be up to Donald Trump on whether he wanted to pass it or whether he wanted to veto funding for our men and women in uniform and their dependents and their children who are suffering right now."
"Again, I think what shocks me so much is Mike Johnson saying, you know, Mike Johnson this whole time has just not been telling people the truth," he added.
Scarborough pointed out that Johnson is afraid to call Congress back into session because he's trying to avoid swearing in Adelita Grijalva, who would become the 218th and final signature needed on a discharge petition forcing a House vote to release the Jeffrey Epstein files.
"Think about this, it's amazing really, this is what Republicans are defending right now," Scarborough said. "Mike Johnson shut down Congress and sent his members home because he didn't want them talking about the Epstein files. Mike Johnson will not swear in a Democrat, democratically elected congresswoman, because that will be the deciding vote on a discharge petition to have the Epstein files released. He won't do it, he won't let her get sworn in, and now he's claiming he can't do anything to have the military be paid."
"He can," Scarborough added. "He can call Elise Stefanik today, and then he can call his friends over in the Senate saying, 'Hey, I'm going to call my members back in, we're going to make sure that our men and women in uniform that are sacrificing so much get paid,' because members of Congress sure as hell are getting paid right now. They're getting health care right now. They're getting taken care of right now, but our troops aren't and the families of our troops aren't, and the children of our troops aren't. That's because Mike Johnson standing in the way."
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