WASHINGTON — This weekend, following House-passage of a clean, short-term continuing resolution to ensure the government remains funded and operating, Speaker Johnson joined Fox Business’ Kudlow and Fox News’ Saturday Morning in America with Kayleigh McEnany to reiterate that Congressional Democrats will own the consequences if they force a government shutdown.
Watch Speaker Johnson on Kudlow here, on Saturday Morning in America here.
On Republican efforts to restore regular order and keep the government open:
Larry, we’ve been working very hard. You and I have talked a lot about how we got to get Congress back to the way the budgeting and appropriations process is supposed to work as we remember. The way it’s supposed to work is 12 separate appropriations bills passed by Congress through regular order with debate and discussion and arm wrestling over what the appropriate amounts of spending are. I’m proud to tell you, we’ve gotten that muscle memory back in the House. The House Appropriations Committee, working in bipartisan fashion, was forced into doing that, but they got it done.
Chairman Tom Cole and the appropriators did a great job. 12 separate appropriations bills passed through committee, three off the House floor. The Senate passed three and they don’t match up exactly, so guess what? We’re going to a conference committee to work that out. That’s the way it’s supposed to work. But we need a little bit more time because the end of the fiscal year falls September 30. So, well in advance, without drama, we put a nonpartisan short-term continuing resolution on the floor, just to keep the government open responsibly so the appropriators can finish this process.
On Congressional Democrats’ ridiculous “counteroffer”:
Think of what they’re demanding, Kayleigh, to keep the government open … We put a very simple, very clean continuing resolution to keep open the government until mid-November so that our appropriators could do the job. Now, what did Chuck Schumer and the Democrats do in exchange? Democrats sent us a counteroffer. Guess what they wanted to do instead of that?
Kayleigh, they wanted to reinstate giving free healthcare to illegal aliens. They wanted us to add $500 million to prop up liberal news organizations. They wanted to add $1.4 trillion in new spending on a short gap funding measure. And we’re just not going to do that. We can’t do that. And it looks like they’re going to try to shut the government down. The Democrat shutdown will be a disaster for the country.
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