MSNBC’s Psaki Tries to 'Correct' Speaker Johnson's Evidence with Different Research
On Thursday night, MSNBC’s Jen Psaki highlighted a moment from House Speaker Mike Johnson’s appearance on C-SPAN, where a frustrated caller claimed Republicans were lying about illegal aliens receiving Medicaid coverage. In an effort to disprove Johnson, The Briefing host strangely cited information that Johnson did not specifically refer to when urging the caller go look for himself.
The incident in question occurred on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, where Johnson was pelted by a discontented caller from Colorado:
CALLER: My question is, if Republicans and Democrats can agree to a one-year extension to the ACA subsidies, removing this sort of talking point of illegal immigrants draining our resources, as you sit here and lie about this, would you support that bill and bring it to a vote on the House floor? This is a big question that I have for you. Thank you.
JOHNSON: Yeah, well, I'm not lying. I'm telling you the truth. And you can go look at all the documents yourself. Don't look at Republican paperwork. Look at the Congressional Budget Office who said that we had at least 1.4 million illegal aliens draining the resources from Medicaid.
Back in June, the CBO released a letter that stated:
CBO estimates that enacting [OBBBA’s] section 44111 would increase the number of people without health insurance by 1.4 million in 2034 because, in order to maintain the 90 percent federal matching rate, most states would stop using state-only funds to provide health insurance coverage to people who do not meet citizenship and immigration status requirements for Medicaid enrollment.
In other words, states that had been providing illegal aliens with health care coverage would receive less Medicaid funding from the federal government. Republicans didn’t want liberal states providing social services to those who don’t deserve them. But Democrats wanted a welfare state.
Psaki mockingly recited the Speaker’s advice:
Mike Johnson says he's not lying. It's a real tell there. Says immigrants are draining resources from Medicaid. And you can go, quote, “look at the documents yourself.” Thank you for that advice. Let's do just that.
She then hoisted up a snapshot of an ABC News article about a study from the American Medical Association:
Here's a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association just last night. It found that in 2022, care for undocumented immigrants made up only 0.4 percent of total Medicaid spending, less than half a percent. That's it. There are the documents.
What? Those weren’t the documents Johnson was referring to. So, to be clear, Psaki’s way of disproving Johnson’s argument was to take data that didn’t account for the other three whole fiscal years during the Biden administration? Got it.
Let’s do some math. During the 2022 fiscal year (since that’s the year Psaki insisted on referencing) Medicaid expenditures totaled $824,236,342,440.
0.4 percent of that total comes out to nearly $3.3 billion. Just in 2022 alone. And that’s assuming all the data was honestly reported.
Obviously, that’s way more than the absolute ZERO Democrats were claiming was spent on illegal immigrants.
Since MSNBC wasn’t straightforward with its audience, we’ll do their jobs for them. Here is the study Psaki referenced. The numbers Johnson referenced can be found here, as well as the specific provision that amended Medicaid spending. Hope that Colorado caller is reading.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" read:
MSNBC’s The Briefing with Jen Psaki
October 9, 2025
9:42:50 p.m. EST
(…)
JEN PSAKI: And things did not get much better for Mike Johnson from there.
[Cuts to video]
COLORADO CALLER [on Washington Journal, 10/09/25]: My question is, if Republicans and Democrats can agree to a one-year extension to the ACA subsidies, removing this sort of talking point of illegal immigrants draining our resources, as you sit here and lie about this, would you support that bill and bring it to a vote on the House floor? This is a big question that I have for you. Thank you.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA) [on Washington Journal, 10/09/25]: Yeah, well, I'm not lying. I'm telling you the truth. And you can go look at all the documents yourself. Don't look at Republican paperwork. Look at the Congressional Budget Office who said that we had at least 1.4 million illegal aliens draining the resources from Medicaid.
[Cuts back to live]
PSAKI: Mike Johnson says he's not lying. It's a real tell there. Says immigrants are draining resources from Medicaid. And you can go, quote, “look at the documents yourself.” Thank you for that advice. Let's do just that.
Here's a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association just last night. It found that in 2022, care for undocumented immigrants made up only 0.4 percent of total Medicaid spending, less than half a percent. That's it. There are the documents. We can send them to your office.
(…)
