With the government shutdown now in its sixth day, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is turning up the heat on Speaker Mike Johnson. On Monday, Jeffries tossed Johnson a public challenge: Square off for a nationally televised prime time debate on the House floor about who's to blame for the impasse paralyzing Washington. Jeffries says Democrats are ready to negotiate but need buy-in from the White House and congressional leaders to hammer out a spending deal that reopens the government—and, crucially, extends Affordable Care Act subsidies set to run out at year's end, the Hill reports.
"Democrats have been clear and consistent in our position," Jeffries wrote in a letter to Johnson, framing GOP leadership as unwilling to budge and accusing Republicans of creating a "healthcare crisis." Talks are at a standstill after the House, largely along party lines, approved a stopgap funding bill last month. Johnson has branded the measure "clean" and "nonpartisan," but it's repeatedly stalled in the Senate, where Democrats insist any funding patch must also make the ACA subsidies permanent. Federal workers will miss their paychecks on Friday if the shutdown drags on.
With the House on break this week—and the Senate left to haggle—Jeffries says a televised debate would deliver much-needed transparency and let Johnson defend what Jeffries calls a "my way or the highway" approach. Johnson, on the other hand, called the demand "theatrics" and said the "House has done its job," the AP reports. "Look, my friend Hakeem had his shot. We debated all on this on the House floor," Johnson said. "He had all of his colleagues lined up. They gave it their best shot and they argued and they stomped their feet and screamed at us and all that. And still, we passed the bill in bipartisan fashion and sent it over to the Senate."
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
