Speaker Mike Johnson was swiftly fact checked by CBS News host Margaret Brennan as he lamented the emptiness of Washington DC.
Johnson appeared on CBS News’ Face the Nation Sunday, and spoke about the government shutdown after five days of inactivity.
When he complained about how quiet his workplace was, however, Brennan was quick to remind him that the GOP was responsible for sending his colleagues home.
As Brennan welcomed Johnson from Capitol Hill to kick off the segment, she jokingly asked: “Anyone up there to negotiate with?”
Johnson had situated himself not in a private office but in a large, empty upper foyer of the building, and was quick to make his loneliness known.
“There’s not, Margaret. Good morning. Good to hear your voice. It’s kind of quiet around here. It has been for the last several days. It’s very unfortunate,” he said.
The Republican continued: “As we’re talking, real people are being adversely affected around the country, and some in substantial ways.
“I pray that more Democrats in the Senate will come to their senses and do the right thing, and when they have the next opportunity on Monday to vote to open the government, I surely hope that they will.”
Brennan didn’t seem too moved by Johnson’s sadness over the empty building, and reminded him that he canceled votes and told House members to stay home this week rather than stay and work on reopening the government.
She cooly replied: “Well, you did send your lawmakers home to their districts, which suggests we’ve got probably another week ahead of us of this shutdown.”
Brennan then moved on to the “real world impact” of the shutdown, noting that federal workers, including the military, will miss their first paychecks on October 15 or 16 should the government not reopen.
“How long should workers plan to be without that income?” Brennan asked.
Johnson was quick to pass the buck to the Senate Minority Leader, despite President Trump’s apparent absence from public or private politicking.
“Well, the only person who can answer that question is your next guest, and that’s Chuck Schumer,” he said.
“The house did its job. The reason the House Republicans are home working in their districts—and I suspect House Democrats should be as well—is because we did that," Johnson said. “We passed a bipartisan, very clean continuing resolution a couple of weeks back now and sent it to the Senate.”
Johnson concluded that rather than bring his lawmakers back to work on a deal the Democrats might agree to, it was down to Schumer to put his biases to one side.
He stated: “Chuck Schumer is trying to show a fight against the Republicans and Americans, and real Americans are being harmed in the political game.”
