House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries grew visibly upset at a CNBC host this week as she pressed him over extending taxpayer-provided subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as āObamacare,ā which was passed without any Republican support during then-President Barack Obamaās first term.
On Friday, Jeffries got into a heated debate with CNBC host Becky Quick on Friday while discussing the state of the subsidies, which House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said the GOP majority would begin working on after the recent Democrat-induced government shutdown ended.
āLetās not go back to whatās done in the past, and whatās not been extended. If you want something to get done, you NEED to do something bipartisan,ā Quick said to a visibly frustrated Jeffries, who immediately pivoted to blaming Republicans though Democrats, when they controlled Congress under then-President Joe Biden, implemented the provision sunsetting subsidies on December 1.
āI donāt think you want to get a deal done. I think this is something where youād like to see the rates go higher and allow Republicans to hang themselves with it,ā Quick finally said to Jeffries.
āThat is a ridiculous assertion! Shame on you!ā Jeffries shot back.
House Speaker Mike Johnson lashed out at Democrats last month for creating the healthcare crisis they were using to demand more than a trillion dollars in new spending to reopen the goverment, much of which would be used to continue subsidizing āObamacareā medical premiums.
At a press conference,Ā Johnson addressed the subsidiesĀ and blamed Democrats for using them as leverage to reopen the government.
āIt is the Democrats who created Obamacare. It is the Democrats who did that without any Republican votesā during then-President Barack Obamaās first term, Johnson said.
āItās the Democrats who by extension have cost the American taxpayers and people who have health insurance, have made their costs skyrocket,ā he added.
āIt is their policies that made that happen. And instead of reforming it, the Democrats donāt reform Obamacare. They want to subsidize it. They want to spend more taxpayer dollars,ā he continued.
āThat, by the way, goes mostly to insurance companies, which makes the cost rise further. Thatās the Democratsā plan,ā he said. āWhen they passed Obamacare in 2010, they called it the āAffordable Care Act.ā We know the truth is exactly the opposite. By some estimates, premiums have risen 60 percent.ā
āRepublicans are the ones fighting to save healthcare. Why? Itās not just talking points to us. We do this. We have ideas and we have already implemented ideas and measures to reduce costs, increase access and quality, and eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse,ā Johnson continued.
āWe got millions of ineligible enrollees off the program and it preserved it. It strengthened Medicaid for the people who rely upon it, which is the elderly, disabled, and young pregnant women, as we always use an example,ā he added.
āNo, [the shutdown] is not about healthcare. That is a false claim and everybody knows it. Everyone in America, and certainly everybody in this room, understands that this is about something else. Itās about FEAR [of the radical left],ā he added.
