Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has warned that the current federal government shutdown may be crowned as American history’s longest, whilst claiming he isn’t willing to ‘negotiate’ with Democrats.
At midnight on October 1, the US federal government ceased operations after both Democratic and Republican funding bills failed to reach 60 votes in the Senate.
On Monday (October 13), House Speaker Johnson held a press conference in Washington, D.C., where he claimed we were ‘barreling toward one of the longest shutdowns in American history’.
The 53-year-old added he ‘won’t negotiate’ with Democrats until they hit pause on their healthcare demands, which are related to the Affordable Care Act subsidies, as reported by the Associated Press.
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The record for the longest government closure in US history took place during President Donald Trump’s first term in office, lasting for 34 days.
This shutdown ultimately ended when the 79-year-old agreed to a temporary deal to fund the government until Feb. 15, 2019.
According to The Independent, President Donald Trump’s preoccupation with brokering peace between Israel and Gaza has come at the expense of unifying the Republicans and Democrats in Congress.
In late September, the businessman met once with Democrats but did not reach an agreement, meaning the shutdown rumbles on into its 14th day today (October 14) - with no real end in sight.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, 55, has since accused Trump of not giving Johnson and other Republicans ‘permission’ to negotiate about the government shutdown.
“Speaker Mike Johnson and I have not met because Donald Trump has not given them permission to meet,” Jeffries alleged via MSNBC.
“We know that until Donald Trump gives them permission to meet, they’re going to continue to hide as it relates to sitting down and negotiating a bipartisan agreement.”
Johnson, however, claimed that Republicans are ‘eager to return to the actual negotiating table’.
“But we won’t negotiate in smoke-filled back rooms, and we won’t negotiate as hostages,” he added, as per The Hill.
During his latest press conference, Louisiana native Johnson denied knowing about the Trump administration pulling the trigger on mass layoffs across seven federal agencies last Friday (October 10).
According to Vice President JD Vance, the firing of staff was necessary to continue critical federal assistance programs, such as the WIC nutrition assistance program, and to pay the military, as per CNN Politics.
“We have to lay off some federal workers in the midst of this shutdown to preserve the essential benefits for the American people that the government does provide,” he said on NBC’s Meet the Press. He also blamed Democrats for the staff reductions.
Johnson used the opportunity to thank the 47th POTUS for ensuring that military personnel were paid during the government shutdown.
The Associated Press reported that the Coast Guard also continues to receive wages.
Topics: Politics, US News, Republicans, Donald Trump
Ella Scott