Speaker Johnson, ABC's Stephanopoulos clash over government shutdown, illegal immigrants getting healthcare

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., sparred with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos on Wednesday over the partial government shutdown.

During an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America," Stephanopoulos accused Johnson and Republicans of wanting to shut down the government to avoid continuing to fund Medicaid coverage for millions of Americans. The House Speaker pushed back on that claim.

"The Democrats' proposal is designed to prevent millions of Americans from losing their health insurance, losing Medicaid coverage or paying higher health care premiums. Why are you against that?" Stephanopoulos asked.

"That's an absurd statement, what you said there," Johnson replied. "It's a factual statement," Stephanopoulos shot back.

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The partial shutdown began at midnight Wednesday after lawmakers failed to agree on a continuing resolution to keep the government funded.

Democrats have insisted that any agreement must extend tax credits for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) beyond the end of this year - a provision Republicans rejected.

Johnson argued that the measure could allow illegal immigrants to access healthcare.

"No, George. Let me tell you what happened last night. Everybody can go and review the facts for themselves. Forty-four Senate Democrats voted to reject a clean, non-partisan, continuing-funding resolution to keep the United States government open. The Democrats said instead that they wanted to give healthcare to illegal aliens instead of keeping critical services provided for the American citizens."

"That's what happened, plain and simple," Johnson added. 

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Stephanopoulos pushed back: "Here are the facts. The proposal does not provide healthcare for illegal immigrants. Illegal immigrants cannot buy health care under the Affordable Care Act. They cannot receive healthcare subsidies."

Johnson interrupted, saying, "That's not true." 

Stephanopoulos continued, "Illegal immigrants are ineligible for Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children's Health Program. The Democratic bill does not make them eligible."

Johnson countered that Democrats' ACA proposal would roll back Republican provisions from the GOP's "big, beautiful bill."

"It does actually, because what it does is it unwinds the changes that Republicans put into the big, beautiful bill - the signature legislation that we passed and signed into law on July 4. That has been very successful in shoring up Medicaid for the people who are actually to receive it," the Speaker said.

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Johnson added that the Congressional Budget Office confirmed the law helped reduce premiums by removing ineligible recipients - "illegal aliens and able-bodied young men who are not eligible to be there."

Stephanopoulos disagreed, saying, "The CBO did not say that about illegal immigrants."

During an interview with Fox News Channel on Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance said Democratic lawmakers want to return to two Biden-era provisions - one that expanded emergency healthcare for illegal immigrants and another that gave mass parole to millions of illegal immigrants while making these new parolees eligible for taxpayer-funded healthcare.

"In the 'one big, beautiful bill,' President Trump and congressional Republicans turned off that money to healthcare funding for illegal aliens," Vance said.