Speaker Johnson: ‘Very optimistic’ Congress will avert shutdown

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Tuesday said he is “very optimistic” Congress will avert a shutdown by Friday’s deadline after meeting with President Biden and top congressional leaders at the White House.

“We have been working in good faith around the clock every single day for months and weeks, and over the last several days, quite literally around the clock to get that job done. We’re very optimistic,” Johnson told reporters on the White House lawn. “We believe that we can get to agreement on these issues and prevent a government shutdown, and that’s our first responsibility.”

“We will get the government funded and we’ll keep working on that,” he later added.

The positive outlook comes three days ahead of Friday’s partial government funding deadline, when four of the 12 annual spending bills are due. Without congressional action this week, a slew of programs and agencies will shut down. The remaining eight bills will lapse March 8.

Congressional leaders had hoped to unveil the compromise spending measures over the weekend, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) informed members in a Sunday letter that negotiators had not yet reached an agreement on the legislation.

Schumer blamed House Republicans for the holdup — ”it is clear now that House Republicans need more time to sort themselves out” — while Johnson said the delay was because of “new Democrat demands.”

Johnson has been under intense pressure from his right flank to push for a number of controversial policy additions to annual spending bills, including provisions related to the border, abortion and language that would eliminate the salaries of various Cabinet officials. Those requests, however, have been soundly rejected by Democrats.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) addresses reporters outside the White House in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, February 27, 2024 after meeting with President Biden, Vice President Harris and Congressional leaders to discuss the first deadline to fund the federal government and to prevent a shutdown. (Greg Nash)

Democrats and Senate Republicans, meanwhile, are pressing lawmakers to work in tandem to avert a shutdown by Friday’s deadline. Schumer on Tuesday, before the White House meeting, said lawmakers can keep the lights on in Washington if both parties “work together,” while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) a day earlier said “the task at hand will require that everyone rows in the same direction: toward clean appropriations and away from poison pills.”

Schumer said Johnson “unequivocally” told attendees at Tuesday’s meeting that he does not want the government to shut down. The New York Democrat also reported “good progress” in the funding efforts despite some disagreements.

“There was a little back-and-forths on different issues that different people want, but I don’t think those are insurmountable,” Schumer said. “The fact that we made it so clear that we can’t have the shutdown because it hurts so many people in so many different ways, even for a short period of time, was very apparent in the room.

“And the Speaker did not reject that,” he added. “He said he wants to avoid a government shutdown. So that was very heartening.”

The lack of substantial progress days before the deadline is fueling chatter that another short-term stopgap bill will be needed to keep the lights on and give negotiators more time to hash out their differences.

Schumer told reporters after the White House meeting “we made it clear that that means not letting any of the government appropriations bills lapse, which means you need some CRs to get that done.”

That, however, could run into trouble in the House, where conservatives are staunchly opposed to short-term funding bills and Johnson himself said last month “I think we’re done with that” when asked about the prospect of another stopgap.

Hardline GOP lawmakers staged a revolt on the floor in January after Johnson worked with Democrats to pass a short-term funding bill and keep the government open. In October, a band of Republicans voted to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) after he put a continuing resolution on the floor that passed with Democratic support.

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Instead of a short-term stopgap bill, some conservatives are pushing for a continuing resolution for the rest of the fiscal year — through September — that would trigger a one percent cut across the board, a mechanism included in last year’s debt limit deal as a way to incentivize Congress to complete the appropriations process through regular order.

“What we ought to do is do a, and this is a low, this is setting the bar really low, but we ought to do the, at least the continuing resolution through Sept. 30. That would kick in the [Fiscal Responsibility Act] caps that were put in place a year ago,” Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), the chair of the House Freedom Caucus, told Fox Business Network on Monday.

Updated at 2:35 p.m.