Jeffries Challenges Johnson as Shutdown Threatens WIC

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries challenged Speaker Mike Johnson to a live, primetime debate on the House floor to force bipartisan negotiations to end the government shutdown and to press for extensions of Affordable Care Act subsidies and protections he says GOP measures would strip away. Johnson rejected the offer as a publicity stunt and “nonsense,” saying the House “has done its job” after passing a GOP-backed stopgap continuing resolution and that the issue is now in the Senate’s hands. The shutdown entered its sixth day, with the GOP-passed continuing resolution stalled in the Senate and both parties blaming the other for the impasse. Johnson has kept the House out of session this week and said he would put any conference committee agreements on the floor once lawmakers break the impasse. Democrats warned the GOP plan would precipitate a “healthcare crisis,” while Republicans said Democrats were blocking a status-quo funding extension. The shutdown also risks immediate harm to vulnerable Americans: the WIC food-aid program could exhaust federal funds within about two weeks, threatening assistance for more than 6 million low-income mothers and young children.