Looming shutdown deadline presents minefield for Speaker Johnson Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is facing a political minefield as he seeks to avoid a government shutdown in just 10 days, with both Republicans and Democrats complicating the path to keep the lights on in Washington.
Democrats, whose support will be needed to keep agencies running, are pushing for assurances in the stopgap to make certain that President Trump will direct the funds as appropriated by Congress — while Republicans are opposed to putting limitations on executive authority.
Partisan tensions are heating up. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Sunday accused GOP lawmakers of having “walked away from the negotiating table.” House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) responded in a Monday statement, “My chair hasn’t moved — I remain at the negotiating table,” charging that “some Democrats would rather risk and leverage a shutdown than work in sincerity to reach a feasible solution.”
Republicans, meanwhile, are putting pressure on the Speaker from multiple sides, with moderates slamming the idea of yet another stopgap, defense hawks raising concerns about the impact a continuing resolution would have at the Pentagon, and hard-line conservatives pressuring Johnson to incorporate some of the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) cuts into the bill.
The multifront battle is sure to create headaches for Johnson as he juggles those competing priorities while working to stave off a government shutdown during Trump’s first 100 days in office — which would be a black eye for the entire Republican trifecta.
“Government funding is always bipartisan. You have to have partners on both sides of the aisle to do it,” Johnson said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” over the weekend. “And we need our Democrat colleagues to come to the table and be reasonable about that.”
Johnson, for his part, lowered the chances of a shutdown over the weekend when he dismissed calls from hard-line conservatives to have DOGE cuts reflected in funding legislation. In appearances on a trio of Sunday talk shows, he endorsed President Trump’s call for a “clean” continuing resolution (CR) until Sept. 30, the end of fiscal 2025 — a change from what he said on CNN last week, when he entertained trying to include some adjustments based on DOGE actions.
“We’re looking to pass a clean CR to freeze funding at current levels to make sure that the government can stay open while we begin to incorporate all these savings that we’re finding through the DOGE effort and these other sources of revenue that President Trump’s policies are bringing to the table,” Johnson said on “Meet the Press.”..............
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5173978-government-shutdown-johnson-republican-democrats/
