Congress appears no closer to finalizing a spending deal that will keep the federal government funded after March 14, and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is already trying to lay blame for a potential shutdown at the feet of the minority party.
According to CNN Congressional reporter Manu Raju, Johnson intends to send a government funding bill filled with controversial budget cuts and mass firings to the Senate, where it will need at least seven Democrats to pass it through the upper chamber of Congress. The speaker said he believed the bill would ultimately make its way to President Donald Trump's desk.
"I don't think it's going to get blocked," Johnson said of the bill. "Because no one wants to shut the government down ... It’s going to be up to Chuck Schumer and the Senate Democrats to do the right thing and I don't think they're going to shut the government down."
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Of course, the 2024 election saw the Johnson narrowly hold onto his Republican majority in the House of Representatives while the Senate flipped back to Republican control by a margin of 53-47. Some on social media responded to Johnson's remarks derisively, pointing out that if the government does shut down, it would be squarely on their shoulders. The Rev. Dr. Marvin Tiller Jr., of the Temple Baptist Church in Chester, Pennsylvania, wrote: "Yall are in the majority." Former Associated Press New Hampshire state capitol reporter Norma Love opined that "Republicans own whatever happens."
"They control both Houses of Congress," New York Times reporter Glenn Thrush tweeted.
In a statement posted to his website, Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) made it clear he would not be supporting Johnson's spending plan, as it "cuts funding for veterans’ medical benefits, evicts 32,000 households from their homes and cuts funding for critical medical research, while failing to incorporate guardrails to ensure money is not shut off, only spent in Republican districts, or repurposed."
"Donald Trump and Elon Musk just spent seven weeks recklessly and illegally shutting down federal agencies, mass firing federal workers, and freezing congressionally mandated funding. The status quo for my district today is massive job losses with impending economic chaos for the entire region," Beyer wrote. "The damage to my constituents is already far worse than that caused by the longest government shutdown in American history – which was also inflicted on them by Donald Trump."
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