As shutdown becomes 2nd longest ever, Johnson hints at changes to GOP's strategy
On Day 22 of the government shutdown on Wednesday, even as House Speaker Mike Johnson rehashed talking points he’s repeated for a month – putting the onus on Democrats to reopen the government -- he acknowledged the GOP’s messaging is getting "old" and a change in strategy might be necessary.
"This is now the second-longest government shutdown of any kind ever in the history of our country, and it's just shameful. Democrats keep making history, but they're doing it for all the wrong reasons,” Johnson told reporters at the daily news conference he's been holding in the Capitol.
Johnson was pressed on Texas Republican Rep. Beth Van Duyne’s remarks on a earlier GOP conference call, during which she reportedly requested that Johnson call the House back to Washington.
"No, that's not what she said ...," Johnson argued. "She said, 'The message is feeling old,' and I said, 'You know what, Beth? You're right' -- because we come out here and say the same thing over and over every day."
Nevertheless, the speaker said House Republicans are "almost 100% -- probably 99.8%" united on the strategy of refusing to negotiate with Democrats until the government gets funded -- even, Johnson said, as they’re "anxious to get back to work."
"The American people are not stupid, and we're in here every day appealing to their common sense and relaying the facts, and thankfully that those facts are saturated," he added.
With more than 42% of the time the House-passed continuing resolution was meant to cover until Nov. 21 now in the rear-view mirror -- and the shutdown clocking in as the second-longest lapse in appropriations in U.S. history -- Johnson acknowledged the time may be coming to call on members to return.
"Obviously the calendar is being eaten up by all this political nonsense by the Democrats," Johnson said. “They are eating up the clock. So, we're getting closer to November, it is going to be more and more difficult with each passing hour to get all the appropriations done on time. We acknowledge that, but we have to decide this on a day-by-day basis.”
Later Wednesday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he "hopes" the shutdown will be resolved by the end of the month but showed no signs of caving on his $1.5 trillion demands.
"Republicans remain on vacation for the fourth consecutive week. Donald Trump is once again preparing to fly out of the country,” Jeffries said -- alluding to the president's plans to depart Friday night to travel to three countries in Asia for several high-level summits with world leaders.
Jeffries again urged Johnson and Republicans to come to the negotiating table to find a solution to reopen the government and “address this health care crisis that they’ve created,” referring to their opposition to extending enhanced Obamacare subsidies and the prospect of millions of Americans facing resulting skyrocketing premiums.
Asked for reaction to Trump’s comment that he will only meet with Democrats to discuss health care once the shutdown ends, Jeffries chided the president for ignoring Democratic calls to negotiate.
“Donald Trump has spent more time on the golf course than he has in talking to Democrats on Capitol Hill to reopen the government, to enact a spending agreement that's bipartisan, and to address the Republican health care crisis," he said.
Jeffries also brushed off a question about Democrats using the shutdown as leverage to extract health care concessions from Republicans -- after the GOP seized on a recent interview in which House Minority Whip Katherine Clark admitted that the pain of the shutdown is among the only leverage Democrats have while they toil in the minority of both chambers.
"Our position is not about strategy," Jeffries said. "Mike Johnson and the Republicans keep talking about strategy. What we're focused on as Democrats is making a difference in the lives of the American people, because the American people deserve better than what they've gotten from Donald Trump and extreme MAGA Republicans."
A new Quinnipiac University poll out Wednesday shows 45% of registered voters think Republicans in Congress are more responsible for the shutdown, while 39 percent think Democrats in Congress are more responsible. Eleven percent volunteered that they think both parties are equally responsible.
