'Does not fit': Top Democrat questions Speaker Mike Johnson's policy on biblical grounds

Democrats targeted Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-LA) faith in a Thursday interfaith press conference about the ongoing government shutdown.

Interfaith leaders and members of Congress met at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Washington to continue advocating that Affordable Care Act subsidies not be slashed at the end of the year. As it stands, the subsidies will expire, and the current government funding will not continue the aid. So, Democrats have fought back against the continuing resolution that would end the shutdown, but also wouldn't deal with the subsidies.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) began by citing Chapters of the Bible before specifically calling out Johnson's own beliefs as conflicting with those.

"God is in our midst and we are not going to cower," DeLauro began, referencing Psalm 46:5.

She noted that, being raised as a Catholic, her values and her faith were "inseparable." Those values, she said, may have been part of her faith, but the same belief is something that all faith traditions adopt such as "care for the vulnerable, welcome the stranger, to feed the hungry, and to heal the sick." The words reference Matthew 10:8.

"Speaker Johnson, he says that his beliefs are rooted in the Bible. That the Bible is his worldview. And I would just say — he is a man of faith. I would agree to that," continued DeLauro. "But the bible is replete with guidance of attention to acts as a community to focus on the poor. And the Bible lays out a faith-based policy agenda. It espouses social justice. Exodus commands not to oppress the poor or the stranger whose cry God will hear. Leviticus set aside a share of the harvest for the poor. The Gospel of Matthew on the need for a living wage. The Letter of James on the obligation not to show favoritism for the rich or the needy."

She confessed that she doesn't understand when people of faith, such as the speaker, say they don't feel that "the healthcare crisis" doesn't fit within that worldview. "It does not fit with that worldview."

Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) similarly used the biblical worldview to justify aid "the least among us," as Fox News reporter Chad Pergram captured.