November 7, 2023
A government shutdown is scheduled in 10 days and the new House Speaker says the Republican plan to stop it from happening – is a surprise???
And he didn’t just say it once – he said it multiple times during his press conference today.
So the question is – does he have a plan that he’s not ready to share yet? Or is there actually no plan at this point that Speaker Johnson can get his entire Republican conference to support?
And the answer is — at this point we just don’t know.
We have heard a few of the ideas the House Republicans have been floating – none of them include fully funding the government through the fiscal year – which should have been done by September 30th. The current options on the table involve passing another continuing resolution to temporarily keep the government open for a certain amount of time. Which means we’ll be dealing with another government shutdown deadline in either December or January. But the Speaker was adamant that it’s important that House Republicans get more time to come up with that government funding plan that also addresses the debt.
Now – that is going to be the center of all the issues – as it always is. Which programs and departments are going to be funded and which are not. That’s the whole point of coming up with a spending plan every single year. This is Congress’s only real job – the problem isn’t that the government has no money – the problem is how to spend that money. But the House Speaker says he’s confident whatever the house republicans come up with – will be able to pass the senate.
Watch Speaker Johnson’s press conference here.
