US House Speaker, Mike Johnson has urged Senate Democrats to reverse course and support a Republican bill to reopen government mostly at current spending levels.
Speaking at the Capitol, Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, called a funding bill put forward by Democrats a “wild list of partisan priorities” and said that it would reverse many of the actions Congress has taken since Republicans took majorities in the House and Senate this year.
The Democrats’ funding bill would reopen the government, while also enacting their priorities on healthcare. The Republican bill would also reopen the government, but does not include any of the Democrats’ demands.
While Democrats have put forward the alternative legislation, they are not seriously demanding that Congress pass it. Instead, they mostly want Republicans to negotiate a deal to extend tax credits for health plans offered under the Affordable Care Act.
Also, Johnson stated that the government shutdown gives US President, Donald Trump and his Budget Director, Russ Vought vast power over the federal government.
The White House is preparing to unleash mass layoffs and funding cuts during the shutdown, and Johnson agreed the president has the constitutional power to make those decisions.
Blaming Democrats, the US House Speaker said “they have effectively turned off the legislative branch” and “handed it over to the President.”
Still, Johnson said that Trump and the White House Budget Director, Russ Vought take “no pleasure in this.”
Additionally, Johnson told his Democratic counterpart to “just ignore” Trump’s posts of doctored videos of him in a sombrero.
Trump’s decision to post the videos of House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries has become a bit of a subplot in the government shutdown fight. Jeffries, a New York Democrat, has called the videos “racist” and challenged Trump to address him in person.
However, Johnson’s advice shows how he’s balancing both his loyalty to Trump and the necessity of working with Jeffries to keep the House functioning. Johnson has also consistently urged lawmakers to tone down their rhetoric when debates become heated.
White House Threatens ‘Harm’ For Democratic Constituents During The Shutdown
Earlier today, Trump posted on social media that he would meet with his top Budget Adviser, Russ Vought, to discuss “temporary or permanent” spending cuts as part of the government shutdown.
Asked on a news program whether this was just a negotiating tactic, White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt said, “it’s very real.”
“The Democrats should know that they put the White House and the president in this position, and if they don’t want further harm on their constituents back home, then they need to reopen the government.”
Karoline Leavitt
Speaking at the White House yesterday, Vice President JD Vance said that despite threatened layoffs because of the shutdown, federal agencies would not be targeted based on politics.
In his social media post about meeting Vought, Trump specifically highlighted that Vought played a role in putting together the Project 2025 initiative to reshape the federal government around right-wing policies.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump had denied having any involvement with the Project 2025 playbook released by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
Trump said that the point of the meeting is “to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies” Vought “recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent.”
The US President said that Democratic lawmakers, by having the shutdown, are giving him “this unprecedented opportunity” to reorient the government to his liking.
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