'Every one of you blames the other side': Republican taken to task over blame game

Frustrated reporters appear to have lost patience with Speaker Mike Johnson and his House majority after the Republican leader on Friday shot down Democrats’ attempt to pass a pared down version of the budget that includes pay for ailing TSA agents and public safeguards against ICE agents, including body cameras and additional oversight.

But Johnson was contemptuous of the Democrats’ overture, calling it a ploy to “open the border,” and instead proposed a “clean, simple, continuing resolution” that fully funds the government without additional oversight.

“Republicans will do the responsible and honorable thing, and Democrats will continue to play politics,” Johnson told reporters.

But after weeks of reporting long lines and TSA agents abandoning their jobs for lack of pay reporters were having none of it.

“Mr. Speaker, … the American people are just sick and tired of every one of you, both Republicans and Democrats, coming to this podium and blaming the other side. People have been standing in lines three, four, five hours at a time. There's TSA workers that are selling their plasma. At what point is a leader on either side going to stand up and say, we have a path forward that everyone will agree to? This vote today will extend the shutdown under any circumstance.”

But Johnson eased effortlessly back into blame mode, while assuring that this was not what he was doing.

“No, it won't,” Johnson insisted, ignoring recent history. “… Look at the Democrats. They're voting over and over — last night, yesterday afternoon — we gave them a chance to fund Homeland Security. You know how many House Democrats voted? Four of them. They want to use people as pawns. This is not a political blame game. This is one party doing the job and getting the government funded in another. That's using people as pawns.”

“These people want open borders and they want criminal, illegal aliens in the country,” Johnson said. “They do not want to enforce the law. They want to defund.”

CNN anchors Brianna Keilar and Boris Sanchez were among the reporters laying down factchecks.

Keilar said Johnson is “very clearly in a very tough spot here.”

“You can tell by how he is pretending that Democrats are in control of the Senate and that the Senate bill that he and House Republicans are rejecting was not actually sent over to the house by the Republican led upper chamber,” Keilar said.

“He said Senate Democrats have foisted this on them as a radical, crazy agenda. But we do just need to note that if this is part of a radical, crazy agenda, it was good enough for Senate Republicans who do hold the majority in the Senate,” Keilar added.

Sanchez pointed out that Johnson “deflected questions about the senate majority leader putting forward the same bill Johnson rejected on Friday.

“It's also notable that [Johnson] is talking about Democrats wanting open borders. That's not what they were demanding out of this shutdown,” Sanchez said. “They wanted adjustments to immigration enforcement, policy changes to body cameras, masks being worn, judicial warrants being required to enter people's property. So, a lot there from Speaker Johnson that doesn’t pass muster.”

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