Debunking House Speaker Mike Johnson’s Halloween press conference

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00:00All right, it's Halloween here on Capitol Hill, and I wish I could say this feels spooky,

00:04but in Congress, we call this Friday.

00:06I just got out of House Speaker Mike Johnson's press conference.

00:09He's had one every day during the government shutdown, and he made some claims that just don't hold up.

00:14The Democrats are lying about that.

00:16Now, I won't accuse Mike Johnson of lying like he accused Democrats of doing,

00:20but some of his claims are easily debunked.

00:23Here are three of the biggest falsehoods.

00:24President Trump has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that if there is any way

00:32to fund these programs that are drying up now, that he will do it.

00:36The Speaker's first comment has to do with SNAP nutrition assistance.

00:40If there was any way to fund SNAP during the Democrat shutdown,

00:44you can be assured that your commander-in-chief would do it.

00:47There's $5 billion currently sitting in a contingency fund that the Trump administration claims it can't use

00:54because a government shutdown isn't the type of emergency the fund was created for.

00:59Democrats across the country sue them over this.

01:03Here's USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins' explanation.

01:06By law, contingency fund can only flow when the underlying fund is flowing.

01:11So, for example, if today the Democrats say,

01:15oh, never mind, sorry, we'll open the government,

01:17and SNAP flows, Hurricane Melissa or one of the hurricanes hits,

01:21that's the contingency fund that we would use to send more money into the vulnerable communities

01:28that are harmed by a specific event like a hurricane.

01:32That brings us to false statement number two.

01:34They didn't file a lawsuit you saw to try to do it.

01:36Why?

01:37Because they wanted a talking point.

01:39They know that's a frivolous piece of litigation.

01:41They know what they're going to lose,

01:42but they also know it'll take many weeks or months to have that ultimately determined by a court.

01:46Democratic state attorneys general did file a lawsuit on Tuesday.

01:51Here we are three days later, and they already won.

01:54A judge ruled the Trump administration must use the money in the contingency fund

01:57to make SNAP last as long as possible.

02:00It's worth noting that based on how much the program costs the federal government,

02:03that's only about two weeks' worth of funding.

02:05Here's false statement number three.

02:07And what are the Democrats doing today?

02:09Where are the Democrats?

02:10Are they in the Senate today?

02:11No, they're out campaigning.

02:12While critical SNAP benefits run dry, the Democrats have skipped town.

02:15They've abandoned their post in the Senate.

02:18It's true.

02:19The Senate's out of town today, just like the House of Representatives.

02:22The thing is, Republicans hold majorities in both chambers of Congress,

02:26so they're the ones that set the schedule.

02:28It was Senate Majority Leader John Thune who decided not to schedule any votes today

02:31and send the chamber home for the weekend,

02:33just like it's House Speaker Johnson who decided to keep the House out of session since September 19th.

02:39So Republicans can criticize Democrats all they want for voting against the continuing resolution

02:44and voting to keep the government closed.

02:46That's true.

02:47Thank you all for being here this morning.

02:48But if Congress isn't in D.C., it's because Republicans made it so.

02:52I'm Ray Bogan for Straight Hour News.

02:53For more unbiased reporting straight from our nation's capital, download the SAN app.

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