Johnson Provides Update As Shutdown Could End This Week

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) says House Republicans can have the government up and running within two days — but only if Senate Democrats quit blocking their clean, short-term funding bill.

Appearing on Fox Business with host Cheryl Casone, Johnson blasted Democrats for repeatedly voting down the House-passed continuing resolution (CR) that would keep federal operations funded while Congress finalizes a full-year budget.

“We are in the fourth week of this shutdown, and we’ve got unpaid federal workers and families that rely on food programs. What do you say to those people, those Americans, who ask, ‘Why is the government still closed?’” Casone asked.

Johnson’s response was blunt: the blame, he said, lies squarely with Senate Democrats.

“Yeah. Those categories that are listed by Leader Thune and yourself and so many others, real Americans are hurting and it is so frustrating to us, Cheryl, because the contrast so is clear. Remember, it was over a month ago that the House did our job, we passed a clean continuing resolution, totally nonpartisan, 24-page, very simple piece of legislation to just keep the lights on so the Congress could continue to do the work of appropriating the funds for the annual budget, and also for navigating all the rest of the issues we have on the table throughout the end of the year,” Johnson explained.

He accused Democrats of using the shutdown as a political weapon rather than a fiscal debate.

“The Democrats voted it down, they’ve done it now almost a dozen times, as you said, because they’re playing partisan games. They filed a counterproposal. Let’s not let anybody forget what they filed as their counter-offer. Their CR is not a clean one, it’s a dirty one, because they want to spend a trillion and a half new dollars on all sorts of wasteful programs, including 200 billion dollars to fund healthcare benefits on the backs of American taxpayers for illegal aliens,” Johnson said.

The Speaker went on to detail other Democratic spending priorities he said were “out of touch with reality.”

“They want to give a half a billion dollars back to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to prop up leftist news organizations, and they want to spend billions of dollars overseas on all sorts of extraneous, crazy kinds of programs. They know we’re not going that,” he said.

Johnson underscored that House Republicans have already done their job — and that Democrats are now responsible for prolonging the shutdown.

“It is not a serious proposal. This is the first time in history that any party has chosen to shut the government down over a clean CR. They are playing a game, and it’s very simple — here’s the reason why. Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, the two leaders in both chambers for the Democratic side, are afraid of their far-left flank, they’re afraid they’re going to get a challenge in New York because Marxism is all the rage, and they’re going to lose their seats, so they’re putting up a fight. It makes no sense, and real people are getting hurt,” he said.

Johnson emphasized that the House stands ready to return to Washington within 48 hours of Democrats agreeing to pass the clean funding measure.

Meanwhile, some cracks are beginning to show among Senate Democrats.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) told CBS’s Face the Nation that he’s “hopeful” the shutdown could end this week — though he avoided naming any specific concessions his party might offer.

“I hope it ends it this week,” Warner said when asked when the mounting “pain and pressure” on federal workers would finally break the stalemate.

In a remark that drew notice, Warner suggested that negotiations might accelerate now that President Donald J. Trump has returned from overseas.

“We knew this wasn’t going to end unless Donald Trump was back in the country. He’s now back in the country. He’s got to go ahead and put America first and sit down with us, deal with the health care shortage,” Warner added.

With the shutdown now in its fourth week and growing frustration among working Americans, Speaker Johnson’s message was clear: the solution is ready — if Democrats are willing to take it.