Today Speaker Johnson tried to get out from under popular anger over the shutdown and spiking health insurance premiums. He said: “Let me look right into the camera and tell you very clearly: Republicans are the ones concerned about healthcare. Republicans are the party working around the clock everyday to fix healthcare. This is not talking points for us: we’ve done it.”

In fact, Johnson has sent the House home until October 14, and what he appears to mean by “working around the clock to fix healthcare” is that Republicans have made cuts to Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in their budget reconciliation bill of July, claiming the cuts will address “waste, fraud, and abuse.”

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates those cuts will increase the number of people without health insurance by 10 million by 2034.