WASHINGTON \u2015 As the government shutdown enters its second week with little sign of ending anytime soon, Republicans are beginning to realize they\u2019re in a different fight than they originally thought, and it\u2019s about an issue where they are at a distinct disadvantage.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters and TV cameras at a press conference at the Capitol on Monday, House Speaker Mike Johnson seemed eager to undercut Democrats\u2019 position as champions of affordable health care, which they have cited as their reason for refusing to vote for a Republican bill to fund the government. <\/p>\n
\u201cLet me look right into the camera and tell you clearly: Republicans are the ones concerned about health care,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cRepublicans are the party working around the clock to fix health care.\u201d<\/p>\n
The emphatic statement about Republicans working to fix health care is something of a rhetorical shift from Johnson, who has for the past two weeks mostly bashed Democrats for arbitrarily demanding health policy concessions on a \u201cclean\u201d government funding bill and dubiously accused<\/a> them of supporting free health care for unauthorized immigrants.<\/p>\n The shift comes after Senate Democrats held their ground in a third vote on reopening the government on Friday \u2015 and after a weekend of polling showing voters mostly blame President Donald Trump and the GOP for a shutdown, and are overwhelmingly supportive of the health care subsidies Democrats are asking for, with 78% of the public, including 57% of self-identified \u201cMAGA Republicans,\u201d believing they should be extended, according to a poll from KFF<\/a>. <\/p>\n But the most worrying poll result for Republicans may come from a CBS News\/YouGov survey<\/a> which found a 36% plurality believe the shutdown is primarily about health care, compared to a mere 5% who said it was about immigration, reflecting far more voters are buying the Democrats\u2019 basic frame of the shutdown than the GOP\u2019s. (Republicans on Monday pointed to a poll last month<\/a> in which 65% of voters said Democrats should not shut the government if their demands aren\u2019t met; the poll also showed more voters would blame Republicans for a shutdown.) <\/p>\n Democrats started the shutdown with multiple television spots on the air<\/a> driving home their health care focused-message in key districts, while the GOP appears to so far have spent significantly less on the shutdown ad wars. It\u2019s all left Republicans moving to catch up to a fight they didn\u2019t realize they were having.<\/p>\n Johnson said Republicans had taken action to \u201cfix\u201d health care, pointing to the $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts they enacted as part of the so-called \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill.\u201d But the legislation isn\u2019t very popular<\/a>, leading Republicans to rebrand it as the \u201cWorking Families Tax Cut Act.\u201d The bill is expected to trim Medicaid enrollment by about 10 million people. <\/p>\n Johnson suggested Monday that the Republican health care agenda remains a work in progress. <\/p>\n \u201cHealth care is broken in America. It\u2019s too expensive. The quality of care needs to rise. We need more access for more people,\u201d Johnson said Monday. \u201cWe have lots of ideas to do that, but that issue is up for debate in the next three months.\u201d<\/p>\n The speaker also highlighted efforts by Republicans to negotiate with Democrats. He spontaneously revealed he\u2019d recently had a \u201cfruitful conversation\u201d with Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) about proposals to extend expiring tax subsidies that help 22 million Americans afford their monthly health insurance premiums. He said he would allow the House to vote on health care legislation if Democrats first agreed to reopen the government. <\/p>\n