'No such promise': Johnson blasts Dem accusations he vowed to end ObamaCare as 'dishonest'
EXCLUSIVE: Former President Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., are not promising to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as part of the Republicans’ policy plan for 2025, the House GOP leader suggested to Fox News Digital.
"Despite the dishonest characterizations from the Harris campaign, the audio and transcript make clear that I offered no such promise to end ObamaCare, and in fact acknowledged that the policy is ‘deeply ingrained’ in our health care system," Johnson told Fox News Digital.
"Still, House Republicans will always seek to reduce the costs and improve the quality and availability of health care for all Americans. Anyone who has been a patient or known a loved one who has struggled with health issues understands why this is so important."
It comes amid a barrage of accusations from Democrats that Republicans want to end the ACA, popularly known as ObamaCare.
"This is not President Trump’s policy position," Trump national press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital.
"As President Trump has said, he will make our health care system better by increasing transparency, promoting choice and competition, and expanding access to new affordable health care and insurance options."
A spokesperson for Johnson told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that the speaker’s position "is in line with President Trump’s."
Trump himself has not proposed a detailed health care platform for the 2024 race.
A video of Johnson saying to voters in Pennsylvania, "Health care reform is going to be a big part of the agenda" if Republicans win the White House and Congress, went viral on Tuesday.
Toward the end of the clip, shared with NBC News, someone can be heard asking, "No ObamaCare?"
Johnson appeared to repeat the question, "No ObamaCare?" and then explained, "The ACA is so deeply ingrained, we need massive reform to make this work, and we’ve got a lot of ideas on how to do that."
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"If you take government bureaucrats out of the health care equation, and you have doctor-patient relationships, it's better for everybody, more efficient, more effective. That's the free market. Trump is going to be for the free market," Johnson said. "We want to take a blowtorch to the regulatory state."
Democrats interpreted Johnson’s remarks as affirming Republicans will end ObamaCare and seized on the moment.
"Health care is on the ballot this November. Speaker Mike Johnson is making it clear – if Donald Trump wins, he and his Project 2025 allies in Congress will make sure there is ‘no ObamaCare.’ That means higher health care costs for millions of families and ripping away protections from Americans with preexisting conditions like diabetes, asthma or cancer," Harris campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said Tuesday evening.
That was followed by a similar statement by House Democrats’ campaign arm on Wednesday morning.
"Take it from Mike Johnson himself, the choice before voters this election is clear: Democrats who will fight to lower health costs and expand access to affordable health care or Republicans who want to raise the cost of medicine and deny health insurance to millions of Americans," Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) spokesperson Viet Shelton said.
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Johnson’s spokesperson told Fox News Digital "the characterization of his remarks by the Harris campaign is false and not substantiated by the audio."
"Harris’ desperation now has her lying about Speaker Johnson," the spokesperson also said, adding that the evidence makes "clear that the Speaker made no such promise."
Republicans tried and failed to repeal the ACA during Trump’s first term in office.
A vote in the then-GOP-controlled Senate in 2017 failed when three Republican senators – including, notably, the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. – voted with Democrats against doing so.