MAGA Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene went scorched earth on House Speaker Mike Johnson as she demanded her party confront the looming healthcare crisis.
The House has now been in recess for more than a month as the government shutdown hits Day 22
However, the Georgia congresswoman has been an outspoken critic of how the GOP is handling the standoff as Democrats refuse to back a short-term spending bill unless it addresses the looming expiration of health care subsidies.
“More of my Republican colleagues are finally talking about the unaffordable health insurance crisis, but yesterday on our GOP conference call Speaker Johnson said he has ideas and pages of policy, but did not say a single policy plan,” Greene wrote on X. “I think that is unacceptable.”
“Pick up your bat and ball and get in the game,” she urged Republicans.
GOP leaders have insisted they will not discuss healthcare until Democrats vote to reopen the government.
However, time is running out before premiums for millions of Americans are set to spike at the end of the year if enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits are not extended.
“Democrats created this nightmare 15 years ago, then made it worse in 2021 by extending the ACA tax credits that are now expiring, and I find it unacceptable that Republicans are sitting on the sidelines doing nothing to fix this healthcare disaster that is leading many Americans into financial ruin,” Greene wrote.
The post on Wednesday is the latest in a series of criticisms lobbed by the far-right lawmaker as she urges her party to take action.
While Greene is not buddying up to Democrats and has slammed Obamacare, she has become increasingly frustrated at her own party’s congressional leadership. She has not shied away from calling them out over the past few weeks across multiple platforms.
She accused Democrats of screwing up the health insurance system with Obamacare, but is angry that Republicans are not prepared with their own plans.
“Republicans it’s time to build the off ramp off of Obamacare in a responsible way, deregulate healthcare and pharmaceuticals and demand price transparency across the board, and incentivize the market in such a way to open up competition which will drive down cost,” she wrote.
Ever since Trump and Republicans failed to overturn Obamacare in 2017 during his first term, they have been teasing their own health care plans but have failed to deliver any details.
Johnson has repeatedly hinted at GOP ideas but has not revealed any details on how Republicans will approach skyrocketing premiums.
While taking questions from callers on C-SPAN more than a week ago, Johnson was asked about fixing healthcare and claimed he had a 90-minute slideshow, but didn’t have time to get into it. The Daily Beast has tried to obtain the referenced presentation from his office but has not received it to date.
As the speaker has grown more frustrated with the shutdown, he has argued that it was always the plan for Congress to address healthcare before the end of the year, but refuses to do so while the government is shut down.
When pressed on the issue, Johnson acknowledged that Obamacare is likely to remain permanent and would be difficult to repeal, but suggested that other measures could be taken.
Johnson responded to some of the GOP lawmakers’ attacks by saying he tries not to react to what she has to say every day.
He has remained committed to keeping the House on recess until the Senate passes the short-term funding bill despite mounting pressure, including from some members of his own caucus.
While the Georgia lawmaker has gone after Republicans in Congress, she has noticeably withheld her wrath against President Donald Trump.
On Thursday, Trump indicated he would “love” to meet with Democrats but said they needed to “open up the country first.”
However, since even before the shutdown began, the Trump administration has repeatedly responded to Democrats’ calls for healthcare subsidies to be extended by accusing them of wanting to give health care to undocumented immigrants who already do not qualify for federal programs.
The post MTG Scorches Johnson With GOP Ultimatum Over Healthcare appeared first on The Daily Beast.
