Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson predicted Monday that the federal government shutdown could become the longest in history.saying he “will not negotiate” with Democrats until they pause their health care demands and reopen.
The Louisiana Republican sharply criticized expiring Obamacare subsidies, at the center of the standoff over government funding, as a “waste” as the shutdown approaches two weeks with no end in sight.
“The COVID-19-era Obamacare subsidy that everyone is talking about and supposedly the topic of the day doesn’t expire until the end of December. And, by the way, it was the Democrats who created that subsidy, who put an expiration date on it,” he declared at a press conference on Monday, the thirteenth day of the closure.
For now, Johnson claimed not to know the details of the thousands of federal employees fired by the Trump administration, but he did warn that: “We are headed toward one of the longest shutdowns in American history.”
The shutdown has paralyzed routine government operations, shuttered Smithsonian museums and other iconic cultural institutions, and left airports congested by flight disruptions, all of which has added more uncertainty to an already precarious economy.
Despite this, Johnson thanked President Donald Trump for ensuring military personnel receive their salaries this week, which removed a major pressure point that could have brought the parties to the negotiating table.
With Congress and the White House deadlocked, some are eyeing the end of the month as the next potential deadline to reopen the government.
That’s when open enrollment begins, Nov. 1, for the health program in question, and Americans will face the possibility of skyrocketing insurance premiums.
It’s also when government employees on monthly salaries, including thousands of House aides, will go without pay.
The Republican president insists his party has been willing to discuss the health care issue with Democrats this fall, before subsidies expire at the end of the year. But First, he said, Democrats must agree to reopen the government.
The longest shutdown, during Trump’s first term over his demands for funds to build the U.S.-Mexico border wall, ended in 2019 after 35 days.
Keep reading:
• The Trump administration began laying off federal employees due to the government shutdown
• What makes this US government shutdown different and more complicated?
• Government shutdown extends delays at airports across the United States