U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson drew a hard line last Thursday, October 16, 2025 against extending COVID-era health care subsidies.
He declared he won’t vote to reopen the federal government if it means continuing what he called fiscally irresponsible payments to families earning up to 700 percent of the federal poverty level.
“I will not vote for the extension of the COVID-era health care subsidies as they were enacted,” Johnson told constituents during a telephonic town hall on day 16 of the shutdown. “You got people making 600 percent, 700 percent of poverty that are getting subsidies from our federal government. It doesn’t make any sense to me.”
The South Dakota Republican’s stance puts him at odds with Democrats who are demanding the subsidies be extended as part of any deal to reopen the government. Johnson said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have refused to open the government because “that’s what their base wants them to fight, fight, fight.”
Johnson, first elected in 2018, promoted his “Eliminate Shutdowns” bill with Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin that would provide automatic short-term extensions if appropriations aren’t completed. He also said he’s not taking a paycheck during the shutdown and supports a constitutional amendment that prevents any member of Congress from being paid during government shutdowns.
“I have worked with (Rep.) Ralph Norman of South Carolina to propose a constitutional amendment that says that no member of Congress should get paid during a government shutdown,” Johnson said.
When asked what Republicans could do if Democrats refuse to reopen the government, Johnson rejected suggestions to eliminate the Senate filibuster. He warned that while it might allow Republican-only spending bills now, Democrats would use the same tactic when they regain power to pack the Supreme Court and grant statehood to Washington, D.C.
“We would get four more justices on the Supreme Court,” Johnson said. “I guarantee you, a stack of Bibles 10 feet tall, that they would make Washington, D.C., a state.”
WIC, Farm Programs at Risk
Johnson warned that critical programs, including the Women, Infants, and Children nutrition program, could run out of funding within days if the shutdown continues.
“Any day now, they’re going to run out of the ability to spend money on WIC,” Johnson told a Sioux Falls caller. “We should do the negotiations on the funding levels for government and the health subsidies from COVID while the government is open and people are getting their WIC, rather than only doing those negotiations while the government is closed.”
The shutdown’s impact on agriculture drew urgent questions from ranchers and farmers. Kelsey from Interior described being unable to get Farm Service Administration checks countersigned, creating a “slow crunch” as lease payments and ranch bills come due.
Johnson said he’s pressed Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought for solutions, noting past shutdowns sometimes allowed FSA offices to open for limited hours.
“In past shutdowns, sometimes they have had the FSA offices open for a narrow period of time, half day, maybe one day a week,” Johnson said. “Some people could come in and get those countersigned.”
China Trade War Intensifies
Johnson acknowledged the severe impact of China’s soybean purchasing halt, calling the situation “unprecedented” with no orders from North Dakota or South Dakota to China or Asia.
“As far as I know, there’s not a single order of soybeans that has been ordered out of either North Dakota or South Dakota to China or anywhere in Asia. It’s absolutely unprecedented,” he said. “My buddies who are in farming don’t know what they’re going to do with their beans. The elevator doesn’t really want them. The price at the elevator is dropping.”
A farmer from Letcher asked about finding new markets for soybeans sitting at elevators with nowhere to go. Johnson advocated for new trade agreements to reduce dependence on China.
“The solution is to get other trade agreements with other countries so we don’t have too many in the China basket,” he said.
Immigration, Social Security Clash
On health care, Johnson clashed with Democratic priorities by supporting citizenship checks for Medicaid and blocking states from using federal infrastructure to provide coverage to undocumented immigrants, even with state funds.
“The CBO, that’s the independent bean-counters that work for Congress, they’re not Republican or Democrat, they had said that 1.4 million illegals were accidentally getting Medicaid,” Johnson said. “The reconciliation package that I voted yes on said states can no longer do that. They cannot use the federal infrastructure and the federal Medicaid plan to cover illegal immigrants, even if the coverage is with state dollars.”
Johnson told a 31-year-old father asking about Social Security’s future that there’s a “100 percent chance it’s going to be around,” but warned that both Social Security and Medicare face insolvency within the decade.
“When Social Security was founded, we had 16 workers for every one retiree. Now we have two and a half workers for every retiree,” Johnson said. “The Ponzi scheme doesn’t work so well then.”
