'That's your job!' CNN's Dana Bash repeatedly thwacks Mike Johnson's shutdown excuses

CNN's Dana Bash grilled House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) over the government shutdown in a testy exchange.

Johnson sat down with the "Inside Politics" host on Wednesday to discuss the GOP congressional majority's inability to pass a budget to keep the government open, which he blamed on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). The interview started out contentiously when the speaker repeated misleading claims he had previously made to Bash's colleague.

"He wantsto give health care to illegalaliens, again, we're not doingthat," Johnson said. "He wanted to claw back $50 billion that our Republican big,beautiful bill put in to prop uprural hospitals. Now people say, 'Why would he do that, I thoughthe was for health care?' Well, alot of those rural hospitals,most of them are in red states, so I don't know. I don't knowwhat his motivation is. Wecan't do it."

Democrats are insisting that federal subsidies for Obamacare continue and are seeking to reverse cuts to Medicaid through the GOP tax bill, and Bash cut off Johnson for a quick fact check.

"You had a very spiriteddiscussion with my friend andcolleague Kaitlan Collins aboutillegal immigrants gettinghealth care," she said. "I don't want torepeat that. If you want to seeit, you can look on YouTube. Ijust want to say for the record,that Democrats, that right nowthe law of the land isexplicitly that illegalimmigrants do not get healthcare."

Johnson told Bash the GOP tax bill added that provision to the law, but unauthorized immigrants have always been largely ineligible for federally funded health care programs — the new legislation changed eligibility requirements for certain groups of "lawfully present" immigrants, a category that has no uniform definition and can apply to a number of noncitizens.

"There's one reason and onereason alone that they're makingthis," Johnson said. "Here's the motivation, let'sjust cut to the chase, Chuck Schumer is doing this. Thereason he switched his position he's had for 30 years rightnow, and doing the exactopposite that he said in Marchof this year, as recently as March, is because he is inpolitical jeopardy. He's afraidhe's going to get a challengefrom his left flank, and [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez] orsomeone else will run againsthim for his Senate seat, so Chuck Schumer has to put up afight and pretend that he'sfighting the president, fighting Republicans."

Bash was not impressed with Johnson's explanation and let him know.

"I've been in town, in this town,maybe even longer than you," she said, "andso I've seen politics played onall kinds of things."

Bash then moved on to comments by Russell Vought, the increasingly influential White House budget director, who said President Donald Trump should use the shutdown as an opportunity to fire federal workers, but Johnson skirted the topic by saying he wasn't sure what exactly was being proposed.

"I don't know, you'd have toshow me a proposal of what isbeing presented," Johnson said.

"I don't have a proposal," Bash interjected.

Johnson said he would ask Vought about the issue during their conference call later in the afternoon, but he declined to specifically offer support for any of the programs that could possibly lose funding. Bash appeared to lose her patience when the House speaker said the White House budget director would have to make those decisions.

"Isn't that your, I mean, constitutionally,that's your job," Bash said. "Article One,that is your job."

Johnson once again passed the blame on to Schumer.

"It is until Chuck Schumerdecides to hand the keys to thepresident, which is literallywhat he's doing," Johnson said. "If he makesthe decision to shut the federalgovernment down, he's shuttingdown the legislative branch, andhe is giving the authority tothe executive. That's how the system works, and he's made thatdecision. So is it foolhardy forhim to do so? Of course, it is.Could it backfire fantastically?Yes."

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