Johnson says he expects House to fund the government by Tuesday
Johnson expressed confidence in a pair of interviews Sunday that the House will pass the funding package to reopen the government by Tuesday, despite a number of hurdles ahead.
“We have a logistical challenge of getting everyone in town,” Johnson said Sunday on “Meet the Press.” “And because of the conversation I had with Hakeem Jeffries, I know that we’ve got to pass a rule and probably do this mostly on our own.”
Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said “Republicans are going to do the responsible thing and fund the government.” But he acknowledged that he may face some opposition among members of his own party as well.
“I have a lot of conversations to have with individual Republican members over the next 24 hours or so,” Johnson said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Still, Johnson added, “we’ll get all this done by Tuesday, I’m convinced.”
“I don’t understand why anybody would have a problem with this,” Johnson said, noting that the bulk of the funding package has already passed the House.
Johnson said “we’re going to do it again,” calling the approval a “formality at this point.”
House Rules Committee to take up funding package Monday afternoon
With the House back in Washington, the package will first go to the Rules Committee, which is set to meet Monday afternoon to consider the legislation after Democrats informed GOP leadership that they would not help fast-track the bill.
Though the Rules Committee route requires a simple majority for passage on the House floor, the legislation will need to pass several procedural hurdles where votes are typically along party-lines.
First, it’s unclear whether the funding package can clear the Rules Committee, where at least one Republican, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, has said he has his own demands for DHS funding. Second, if it advances out of the committee, there are questions about whether Johnson can keep his party united in a procedural vote before final passage.
On the floor, Johnson can only afford to lose two votes if all members are present and voting. Attendance has already created issues for Republicans this year.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican, has said that she’ll withhold her support unless legislation that would require Americans to show proof of citizenship in person to register to vote in federal elections is attached.
Any changes to the package would require sending it back to the Senate, prolonging the shutdown.
House Democrats not expected to help GOP fast-track funding deal
House Democrats conveyed to GOP leadership over the weekend that they wouldn’t provide the votes to help pass the funding package under suspension of the rules — a maneuver that would fast track the legislation’s passage.
“We need a full and complete debate,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on MSNOW Saturday. “And what I’ve made clear to House Republicans is that they cannot simply move forward with legislation taking a ‘my way or the highway’ approach.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke Saturday, two sources familiar with the conversation confirmed to CBS News.
Johnson acknowledged on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday that after his call with Jeffries, he expects Republicans will “probably do this mostly on our own.”
The dynamic means Johnson will have to shepherd the legislation through the Rules Committee before it goes to the floor for a simple majority vote. GOP leaders, with a narrow majority in the chamber, must have near unanimous support among Republicans — and could still face hurdles from conservatives on the Rules Committee and otherwise.
Here’s what’s behind the partial government shutdown
The Trump administration’s approach to immigration enforcement has been the focus of this funding fight.
Since the longest shutdown in U.S. history last fall, lawmakers have been working to pass individual spending bills to fund federal agencies through September 2026. Congress has passed six of those bills already, and they have been signed by the president. The other six are the focus of the current funding fight.
While the funding measures had been on track to pass ahead of the deadline earlier this month, the deadly shooting of Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis changed things for Democrats. They came out fiercely against funding for DHS without further reforms, and in the Senate, Democrats pledged not to provide the votes to move forward on the funding package unless the DHS money was stripped out.
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