'A lie!' Speaker slams Dems as he claims 'zero' plan to cut Social Security and Medicaid
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) slammed Democrats for "lying" about the House Republicans' funding bill that he claimed will pass the House on Tuesday.
In a press conference from Capitol Hill Tuesday morning, Johnson declared "we'll have the votes" to pass the funding bill and avert a government shutdown.
Johnson accused the Democrats of concocting a smear campaign against the GOP's continuing resolution.
"They either have an issue with reading comprehension, or they are attempting to run one of the most shameful misinformation campaigns that we've ever seen in our in our lives," Johnson said.
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The speaker read a statement from the House Democrats' leadership team that he said was full of lies.
"They said, quote, 'Republicans have decided to introduce a partisan continuing resolution that threatens to cut funding for health care, nutritional assistance, and veterans benefits through the end of the year.' Every single word of that is a lie. Every single one. They just made it up. They didn't read the bill. It's nonsense."
Johnson continued, "People are not buying this. And you see the contrast between one party which is leading, moving the ball forward for the American people, and the other that is just screaming. Then the Democrats start parroting this talking point: in interviews all weekend on CNN, they said, quote, 'It's so harmful to the American people.' You know, 'cutting Medicaid, cutting Medicare, threatening social security, cutting veteran benefits.' It's all a lie. You can all read the bill's 99 pages. This clean CR contains no poison pill riders, no policy riders there at all. No cuts to Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security. Zero. No cuts to veterans' benefits. Zero."
Johnson concluded by accusing the Democrats of desiring a government shutdown that Republicans want to avoid.