Speaker Johnson Exposes ‘Poison Pill’ Dems Tried to Sneak Into Bill

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told Newsmax on Monday that once the government shutdown ends, House Republicans are readying ideas to tackle rising healthcare costs.

The House on Sept. 19 passed a clean continuing resolution 217-212 that would fund the federal government through Nov. 21, but the measure quickly stalled in the Senate amid a broader fight over Affordable Care Act subsidies.

The pandemic-era subsidies, which were created by Democrats, are scheduled to expire at the end of the year, the outlet reported.

During an appearance on “The Record with Greta Van Susteren,” Speaker Mike Johnson declined to specify when the House might consider a bipartisan Senate proposal to fund the federal government through January 30.

The Senate advanced the measure Sunday night by clearing a key procedural hurdle, though a final vote is still expected to take place in the coming days.

Johnson noted that House Republicans had included provisions to address rising healthcare costs in their One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but said Democrats ultimately removed them during negotiations

“The problem is that we are subsidizing very wealthy insurance companies,” Johnson said. “That is not helping costs go down. It’s driving premiums up even higher. So, Republicans want to fix the broken system.

“We don’t want to throw good money at a broken and failing system. And the Affordable Care Act has been that since it was signed into law, passed by the Democrats alone back in 2010,” the Louisiana Republican added.

“We’ve got to reduce the cost of healthcare and the cost of living, and Republicans are the ones that have the ideas to do that,” he said.

Johnson stated that the OBBB included a provision which, according to him, would have decreased healthcare premiums by 12.7%.

“But the Democrats fought to take it out of the bill,” he said. “So, if they cared so much about healthcare costs, they shouldn’t be fighting provisions like that.

“We’re putting together some ideas that will drive the premiums down because healthcare is too expensive in this country. It’s too expensive because the Democrats built a system that doesn’t work. So, we need to look at the root causes of the costs that have skyrocketed and address that for the people,” Johnson told Van Sustren.

“Merely subsidizing something is not the is not the answer. When the government subsidizes something, it almost always means it’s not working. And that’s the problem,” he said.

With the subsidies set to expire on Dec. 31, Johnson said, “it’s an urgent matter for us, and it has been, which is why we put it into the bill that we passed in the early summer. And the Democrats fought to take it out.”

“So, we’re reintroducing some of these ideas,” he said. “There’s a lot of ideas on how to drive the cost down, and we have November and December to work on that.

“We’re going to have to get a bipartisan consensus on some of this. And so, we’ll be presenting our ideas and putting them on the table,” he continued.

“The Democrats, this is very important to point out, they don’t have any reform ideas at all. Their argument is they want a completely unreformed continuation. They would do it permanently, most of them on government just subsidizing the insurance companies. And that is not the solution,” he said.

“We’re going to be educating the population, and along the way, as we do this, come up with reforms that will actually solve the problem and not make it worse.”

Johnson, in a separate interview with Fox News, urged GOP members of the House to return to Washington before an expected vote on a measure to reopen the government on Wednesday.

“We’re going to plan on voting, on being here, at least by Wednesday,” Johnson said. “It is possible that things could shift a little bit later in the week, but right now we think we’re on track for a vote on Wednesday. So we need you here.”

Judge Tosses Wolff Suit, Clearing Path For $1B Melania Claim HH

Wolff filed suit against Trump seeking to block her from suing him for $1 billion for alleged defamatory claims he made regarding her association with Jeffrey Epstein.

“It’s an inappropriate level of tactical gamesmanship,” said Manhattan Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil, an appointee of President Donald Trump.

Vyskocil said she would not be “drafted to oversee an abusively presented spat,” yet she recognized that both sides have a “real dispute.”

Last year, the first lady’s lawyer issued Wolff a letter demanding he delete the statements he made about Trump and threatening that she would have “no alternative” but to sue him if he didn’t.

That spurred him to sue her in state court in October.

Trump’s lawyer, Alejandro Brito, had the complaint moved to federal court, where Vyskocil declared that while federal court does have jurisdiction, she was declining to exercise it and “dismisses this case to be litigated like any other.”

A Melania Trump spokesperson said that the first lady “is proud to continue standing up to, and fighting against, those who spread malicious and defamatory falsehoods as they desperately try to get undeserved attention and money from their unlawful conduct.”

The 56-year-old’s lawyer previously claimed that Wolff’s statements caused her “overwhelming reputational and financial harm.”

The first lady has denied any association with Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of child sex trafficking.

“The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today,” the first lady said in an April press conference.

“The individuals lying about me are devoid of ethical standards, humility, and respect. I do not object to their ignorance, but rather I reject their mean-spirited attempts to defame my reputation,” she added at the time.

Wolff claimed in his lawsuit that the president and first lady “have made a practice of threatening those who speak against them” with costly legal actions “to silence their speech, to intimidate their critics generally, and to extract unjustified payments and North Korean-style confessions and apologies.”

He added that some of his statements were taken out of context and some were protected speech, including a statement he made that claimed the Trumps have a “sham marriage, trophy marriage,” that his lawsuit says was a “fair and justified” opinion.

It also said in his lawsuit that Wolff never accused the first lady of being involved with criminal activity associated with Epstein.

The Daily Beast retracted an article last summer, titled “Melania Trump ‘Very Involved’ in Epstein Scandal: Author,” which was based on an interview with Wolff, after the outlet received a letter from Brito.

In the interview that formed the basis for the retracted piece, Wolff said he reported that the first lady was “behind the scenes” dealing with the situation at the White House, but was not involved criminally.

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace praised Melania Trump at the time for coming out against Epstein.

“Melania Trump stands with Epstein victims,” Mace said, citing the first lady’s advocacy for legislation addressing the distribution of fake intimate images. “The truth will prevail.”

Democratic lawmakers also commented following the statement.

Rep. Robert Garcia called for a public hearing, writing, “We agree with First Lady Melania Trump’s call for a public hearing,” Garcia said. “We encourage Chairman Comer to schedule a hearing immediately.”

Garcia said the remarks renewed attention on the broader investigation.

In her remarks, Melania Trump called on Congress to take action.

“Now is the time for Congress to act,” she said.

She urged lawmakers to allow victims to testify under oath.

This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.