Johnson shutters House again in bid to keep shutdown heat on Schumer
The House has not been in session since Sept. 19
By Elizabeth Elkind Fox News
Published October 17, 2025 2:43pm EDT
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has once again instructed House lawmakers to remain in their home districts next week, keeping attention — and heat — in Washington on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for over a month.
A clerk in the House of Representatives announced on Friday that Johnson is designating Oct. 20 through Oct. 23 as a "district work period," meaning no votes or House hearings are expected to be held for that time.
It's part of the pressure strategy Johnson has implemented against Democrats amid the ongoing government shutdown, which is barreling into a fourth week with the GOP's federal funding plan stalled in the Senate.
The House GOP passed its federal funding plan on Sept. 19, a seven-week extension of fiscal year (FY) 2025 government spending levels, called a continuing resolution (CR).
It was aimed at giving congressional negotiators more time to strike a longer-term deal on FY 2026 spending.
But Democrats, infuriated by being sidelined in the talks, are threatening to reject any deal that does not include an extension of COVID-19 pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of December.
Democrats reason that millions of Americans are expected to see their healthcare premiums skyrocket even before the subsidies themselves expire at the end of this year, and with no plan in place.
Republican leaders have signaled openness to having those discussions at a later date — albeit not without reforming the system — but are holding firm to their demand that the CR be passed without any partisan policy riders attached.
Johnson told reporters earlier on Friday that he would give House members 48 hours' notice before they had to return for any votes, something he's stated both publicly and privately for weeks.
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