House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared on C-SPAN’s morning call-in program on Thursday, where he took heat from callers on both sides of the political aisle.
Samantha, a Republican caller from Virginia, told Johnson she lives “paycheck-to-paycheck” with “two medically fragile children” and a husband who serves in the military.
“If we see a lapse in pay come the 15th, my children do not get to get the medication that’s needed for them to live their life,” she said, her voice shaking. “As a Republican, I am disappointed in my party and I’m very disappointed in you because you do have the power to call the House back…. I am begging you to pass this legislation. My kids could die.”
In response, the speaker placed the blame for the ongoing government shutdown on Democrats: “Republicans are the ones delivering for you,” he assured her, whereas, “Democrats are the ones preventing you from getting the check.”
Republican C-SPAN caller to Mike Johnson: “As a Republican, I’m very disappointed in my party,and I’m very disappointed in you, because you have the power to call the House back. You refuse to do that just for a show.” pic.twitter.com/3gxdXxtsDj
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 9, 2025
Pat, a Democrat from New York, called in and criticized the ongoing shutdown and Trump’s so-called “one, big, beautiful” tax and spending plan. She also asked about “the war being caused here in America,” with Trump deploying troops to American cities, using them as “war zones,” and telling “the military to shoot Americans.”
Johnson replied that he has “no idea” where the idea that Trump “wants to have a war on American citizens” comes from. (In a speech to military leaders last month, Trump called American cities “training grounds for our military.”)
Johnson insisted that, after the federal takeover of D.C., “Everybody is smiling here. The sun is shining again.” A subsequent caller, a Colorado Democrat named Sam, took issue with that remark: “Hearing you say that everyone is smiling in the cities where troops, our National Guard, has been rolled into feels dystopian and insane,” Sam said.
Collin, a Republican in Texas, said he doesn’t have health insurance and pays out-of-pocket, asking, “What is the plan to fix Obamacare?” Johnson provided little more than the president’s notorious promise of “concepts of a plan”: Republicans, the speaker said, “have a lot of ideas to fix it.”
Prodding Johnson for something less vacuous, C-SPAN host Mimi Gergees asked, “Is there a plan that we can read and find out more about?” to which Johnson gave a similarly vapid response: Republicans “have been producing plans over the last few years” and “are setting up the conditions right now to do that.”
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