House Speaker Mike Johnson was asked at his daily press conference at the Capitol about the possibility of needing to pass a new continuing resolution, given that the Nov. 21 deadline in the current House-passed version is fast approaching.
“Wouldn’t that be a futile exercise, when we have a CR that’s been sitting over there since Sept. 19?” the speaker said. “If I brought the House back and we passed another CR it would meet the exact same fate from Chuck Schumer. He would mock it, they would spike it and they would try to blame it on us.”
He said that Democrats are “eating up the clock” by continuing to block the continuing resolution. He repeated the GOP argument that Democratic leaders are being influenced by the emergence of Zohran Mamdani, the party’s nominee for mayor of New York City in next week’s election.
“I think Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are irredeemable at this point. I don’t think they’ll be able to tell Mamdani in New York and his disciples that they voted to open the government. I’ve given up on the leadership. We’re trying to appeal to a handful of moderates or centrists who care more about the American people and will put the people’s interest over their own and do the right thing in the Senate,” Johnson said.
He added: “There’s no point in me sitting down with Chuck Schumer. He’s painted himself into a corner. I get all that. Mamdani looks like he’s going to win and become the mayor of New York City, and Hakeem Jeffries came out and endorsed him. That’s all you need to know. Hakeem Jeffries is terrified that Mamdani, one of his disciples, is going to challenge him in his own seat in the election next fall.”
Johnson said that “it doesn’t matter” what the House passes as long as Senate Democrats refuse to vote to reopen the government.
“We have to get a handful of moderates over there who care about America to do the right thing. We need at least seven Democrats, it takes 60 votes in the Senate to pass it,” he said. “This is not the Republicans. This fault is squarely on the shoulders of the Democrats, and they are the ones causing you the pain, and don’t ever let them forget it.”