WASHINGTON — On Day 41 of the Democrat Shutdown, Speaker Johnson delivered remarks after eight Senate Democrats voted last night to break the filibuster and begin the process of voting to reopen the government.
“It appears to us this morning that our long national nightmare is finally coming to an end, and we’re grateful for that. At least some Democrats now finally appear ready to do what Republicans and President Trump and millions of hardworking American people have been asking them to do for weeks,” Speaker Johnson said. “As we said from the beginning, the people’s government cannot be held hostage to further anyone’s political agenda. That was never right, and shutting down the government never produces anything. It never has if you study history. And so, here we are.”
Watch Speaker Johnson’s full remarks here.
Read Speaker Johnson’s full remarks as delivered below:
Good morning, everybody. I’m very thankful to see you all this morning. I’m thankful to welcome you to what appears to be the beginning of the end of the longest government shutdown in US history. As shameful as that is, I don’t think it’s coincidental, you know how I think. But after 40 days of wandering in the wilderness and making the American people suffer needlessly, some Senate Democrats finally have stepped forward to end the pain.
It appears to us this morning that our long national nightmare is finally coming to an end, and we’re grateful for that. At least some Democrats now finally appear ready to do what Republicans and President Trump and millions of hardworking American people have been asking them to do for weeks.
As we said from the beginning, the people’s government cannot be held hostage to further anyone’s political agenda. That was never right, and shutting down the government never produces anything. It never has if you study history. And so, here we are.
I want to remind everybody this morning of another critical point that you’ve heard me repeat over and over, over the last several weeks. It’s something that I and leader John Thune and President Trump and every Republican leader have all said repeatedly from the beginning: we have always been open to finding solutions to reduce the oppressive cost of health care under the Unaffordable Care Act. We just made clear that we would not and should not ever do that, and that is negotiate as hostages.
And I’ve also reminded you here every morning that Republicans have not just been talking about reducing costs and fraud and abuse in so many areas in health care, we’ve been actually passing new laws to accomplish that urgent mission for the people. And we will continue to do so.
So, here’s where we are. By way of schedule, just so you know and you’re following. If you’re not at home, if you’re waking up to this good news this morning, the Senate’s vote late last night of 60 to 40 opens the door.
Now the Senate is moving forward on an amended House CR that will reopen the government until January 30. Added to that are provisions to fully fund SNAP through the end of the next fiscal year, which is September 2026, guaranteed back pay for all federal workers who have been made to endure these hardships over the last several weeks. And it also includes passage of three appropriations bills, which we’re grateful to be moving through the process. That is the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs bill. It’s the Agriculture bill and the Legislative Branch bill.
The Senate will be back in session this morning to finish their job. And we’re certainly praying that they do. They’ll need unanimous consent from all Senators to fast track their final vote. As you know, there’s some procedural hurdles that one or more could throw in the way, but we certainly hope that they won’t do that because so many people across this country are desperate for the government to reopen.
At the very moment that they do that final vote; I will call all House Members to return to Washington as quickly as possible. We’ll give a 36-hour formal and official notice so that we can vote as soon as possible to pass the amended CR bill and get it to the President’s desk. As you all know, and he said as recently as last night, I was with him, and he told the press, he said, we want to get the government open. He’s very anxious to get the government reopened and to end the Schumer Shutdown. We all are.
With regard to the travel challenges, I spoke yesterday at some length with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, my former colleague and good friend. And he lamented the serious situation that we have with air travel in the US. He’s bent over backwards as all members of the Administration and the Cabinet have done in all their areas of jurisdiction to try to keep the government working for the people and to mitigate the pain and the harm.
But the problem we have with air travel is that our air traffic controllers are overworked and unpaid, and many of them have called in sick. That’s a very stressful job, and even more stressful exponentially when they’re having trouble providing for their families. And so, air travel has been grinding to a halt in many places.
And as of Sunday, nearly half of all domestic flights and US flights were either canceled or delayed. And it’s a very serious situation. So, I’m saying that by way of reminder, I’m stating the obvious to all my colleagues, Republicans and Democrats in the House. You need to begin right now returning to the Hill. We have to do this as quickly as possible.
Now, we look forward to the government reopening this week so Congress can get back to our regular legislative session. We have a lot of business to do, as you all know. And we will be working in earnest. There’ll be long days and long nights here for the foreseeable future to make up for all this lost time that was imposed upon us.
I want to close with something that’s important. I think it’s important to say, this is genuine. I mean, this sincerely. We applaud the seven Senate Democrats and one Independent Senator who did the right thing. They decided to put principle over their personal politics.
And my urgent plea of all my colleagues in the House, and that means every Democrat in the House, is to think carefully and finally do the right thing and help us to bring an end to the pain of the American people. This has gone on too long. Too many people have suffered, and it’s long overdue.
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