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House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., dismissed the top House Democrat’s demand for a primetime debate on the government shutdown.
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., wrote to Johnson on Monday morning challenging him to a debate on the House floor “any day this week,” to be broadcast live “to the American people.”
Johnson suggested he would not entertain that, however, calling the move a “publicity stunt” to reporters that same morning.
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“When the poll says that about 13% of the people approve of your messaging, then you make desperate pleas for attention, and that’s what Hakeem Jeffries has done,” Johnson said.
“We debated all this on the House floor. As you know, before we passed our bill, he spoke for seven or eight minutes. He had all of his colleagues lined up. They gave it their best shot, and they argued, and they stomped their feet and screamed at us and all that. And still we passed the bill in bipartisan fashion and sent it over to the Senate.”
The House speaker was referring to a short-term federal funding bill aimed at keeping the government running through Nov. 21, in order to give congressional negotiators more time to pass fiscal year (FY) 2026 spending priorities.
That bill passed the House largely along party lines — with two Republicans opposed and one Democrat in support — but has stalled in the Senate.
“The House has done its job. I’m not going to let Hakeem try to pretend for theatrics. I mean, this is a [Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.] decision. The ball is in the Senate’s court now,” Johnson said.
“We don’t need to waste time on that nonsense. Those debates have been had. I mean, Hakeem is a friend and a colleague. I respect him, but we all know what he’s trying to do there.”
The government is in its sixth day of the current shutdown, with Senate Democrats having rejected the GOP-led funding plan four times.
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Democrats in the House and Senate, infuriated by being sidelined in federal funding talks, have been pushing for an extension of Obamacare subsidies enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those enhancements would expire by the end of 2025 without congressional action.
“Democrats have been clear and consistent in our position. The country needs immediate, bipartisan negotiations between the White House and congressional leadership in order to reach an enlightened spending agreement that reopens the government, improves the lives of hardworking American taxpayers and addresses the Republican healthcare crisis,” Jeffries wrote to Johnson on Monday.
“Unfortunately, Donald Trump and your party decided to shut down the government, because the GOP refuses to provide healthcare to everyday Americans. Further, you have kept House Republicans on vacation instead of working with Democrats to reopen the government.”
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