As the shutdown drags into week two, Republicans are waking up to the fact that this fight isn’t playing out the way they expected.
Speaking at a press conference at the Capitol on Monday, House Speaker Mike Johnson looked ready to chip away at Democrats’ image as defenders of affordable health care, the main reason they’ve refused to vote for a Republican bill to fund the government.
“Let me look right into the camera and tell you clearly: Republicans are the ones concerned about health care,” Mike Johnson said at the conference (via Huff Post). “Republicans are the party working around the clock to fix health care.”
The statement is a big rhetorical turn for Mike Johnson, who’s spent the past two weeks attacking Democrats for tying health care demands to the shutdown fight — and even accusing them of wanting free care for people here illegally.
I’ll reiterate now what I told @SpeakerJohnson: the only path forward begins with him & @LeaderJohnThune talking with Leaders Schumer & Jeffries.
Premium hikes are going out THIS MONTH. We need a deal that reopens the government & stops premiums from doubling. https://t.co/riRBbi8pPN
— Senator Patty Murray (@PattyMurray) October 6, 2025
The shift comes after Senate Democrats stood firm in a third vote to reopen the government on Friday, and fresh polls over the weekend showed most voters blaming President Trump and the GOP for the shutdown.
On Monday, Mike Johnson suggested that the Republican healthcare agenda remains a work in progress.
“Health care is broken in America. It’s too expensive. The quality of care needs to rise. We need more access for more people,” Mike Johnson added. “We have lots of ideas to do that, but that issue is up for debate in the next three months.”
Mike Johnson also pointed to the GOP’s willingness to work across the aisle, saying he recently had a “fruitful conversation” with Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) about extending key tax subsidies that help 22 million Americans pay for health insurance. He said he’d let the House vote on health care reforms, but only if Democrats agree to end the shutdown first.
Meanwhile, Murray responded on social media that Democrats still want health care concessions as a condition of reopening the government.
“Premium hikes are going out THIS MONTH. We need a deal that reopens the government & stops premiums from doubling,” Murray said.
On the other hand, some conservative House Republicans seem worried that their leaders might strike a deal with Democrats to extend the subsidies.
“Making such concessions would make us look weak, saying we’re for one thing and doing another,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) wrote Monday in a letter to The Wall Street Journal. “If Republicans govern by poll and fail to grab this moment, they will own it. Don’t expect me to.”
Marc Short, who once served as chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence, predicted the GOP would cave on the issue soon.
“Republicans are going to cave on this in the end,” he said on NBC’s Meet The Press. “The bottom line is that Democrats were really shrewd when they put the Obamacare subsidies in the plan.”
The Senate is set to vote Monday evening on a funding bill already passed by the House. So far, it’s unclear whether any more Democrats will break ranks and back the GOP plan.
