'You don’t have the votes': Fox News reporter counters Mike Johnson blaming Dems for possible shutdown

During a Tuesday morning, March 11 press conference on Capitol Hill, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) tried to blame House Democrats for the possibility of a federal government shutdown. Democrats, Johnson argued, are increasing the possibility of a shutdown by failing to support a "continuing resolution" (CR).

But the speaker got some pushback from a reporter for right-wing Fox News.

Johnson told reporters, "Here’s the bottom line — if congressional Democrats refused to support this clean CR, they will be responsible for every troop who misses a paycheck, for every flight delay from reduced staffing at TSA, for every negative consequence that comes from shutting down the government. If Democrat colleagues want to increase their 21 percent approval rating with the American public, they ought to start by doing the right thing in keeping government open."

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But Fox News reporter Chad Pergram reminded Johnson that Republicans, not Democrats, are the majority party in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Pergram told the House speaker, "You continually criticized the Democrats. Doesn't that imply that you don't have the votes on your side because you wouldn't need Democratic assistance to keep the government open?"

Johnson responded, "No, we'll have the votes. We're going to pass the CR. We can do it on our own."

The speaker added, "But what I'm saying is Democrats ought to do the responsible thing, follow their own advice in every previous scenario, and keep the government open. It’s their choice."

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