No scenario “at this moment” in which House returns before Senate passes GOP funding bill, Johnson says
House Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday there is no scenario “at this moment” in which the lower chamber returns before the Senate passes Republicans’ seven-week stopgap measure.
“I’ll tell you why,” he told CBS News’ Major Garrett in an interview, “because the House has done its job.”
Johnson has faced criticism from his own party over the argument. On Wednesday, Republican Rep. Kevin Kiley of California noted that the short-term funding measure was only necessary because “Congress has not done its job” in passing the dozen annual appropriations bills.
“The Speaker shouldn’t even think about cancelling session for a third straight week,” Kiley wrote on X.
The House last voted on Sept. 19 and has been out of session since then. Lawmakers were supposed to be in session on Sept. 29 and Sept. 30, but Johnson canceled votes to dial up pressure on the Senate to pass the House bill before the shutdown deadline on Oct. 1. The House was then expected to return on Oct. 7, but Johnson again extended their break until Oct. 14.
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When asked why he would not bring the House back to continue work on the annual appropriations bills, Johnson said, “a lot of that work is being done short of passage on the House floor.”
“There’s a lot of negotiation, deliberation going on, even as we speak, the appropriators working together, not just Republicans and Democrats in the House, but across chambers,” Johnson said.
The House has passed three of the 12 appropriations bills. None of the 12 have passed both the House and Senate.
Pressure grows on Johnson to hold vote on paying troops amid shutdown
Pressure is growing on House Speaker Mike Johnson to hold a floor vote on a standalone bill to pay members of the military during the shutdown.
Troops are set to miss their next paycheck on Oct. 15.
A bill from Republican Rep. Jennifer Kiggans of Virginia to pay members of the military, civilian personnel and Defense Department contractors during a lapse in annual appropriations is gaining momentum as the shutdown drags on.
Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York broke with GOP leadership Thursday, demanding a floor vote on the bill. About 150 lawmakers have cosponsored the bill, a majority Republicans.
Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, has been resistant to the idea, arguing Thursday that House Republicans have already done their job by passing a short-term funding bill that would keep the government open until Nov. 21. The House passed the bill on Sept. 19 and GOP leadership has kept the lower chamber out of session since then. Leadership has not committed to bringing the House back next week.
“We have already voted to pay the troops. We did it three weeks ago,” Johnson said.
Senate leaves town until Tuesday as stalemate continues
The Senate ditched Washington late Thursday after votes and senators are not planning to return until Tuesday at 3 p.m., after the House-passed Republican bill and a Democratic counterproposal have been defeated in seven votes since Sept. 19.
The Democratic proposal, which would extend funding until Oct. 31 and make Affordable Care Act subsidies permanent, has no chance of passing.
Republicans need at least five more Democrats to drop their opposition to the GOP bill, which would fund the government at current levels until Nov. 21, to meet the 60-vote threshold for passage.
But Democrats are holding firm on their demand that Republicans negotiate on the health insurance tax credits that are set to expire at the end of the year and send premiums soaring without a resolution. Democrats say the issue is important to solve now because open enrollment begins Nov. 1.
Republicans say they will only negotiate on the issue once Democrats provide the votes to reopen the government.
The Senate had originally planned to be on break next week, but instead will return to Tuesday to vote again. So far, a vote on just the GOP measure is expected at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
