On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Source,” House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) stated that it appears as though conditions being attached by Democrats such as “a base number of employees for each agency in the executive branch” will force a continuing resolution to be passed to avoid a government shutdown and if there is one, “it may be an entire year-long CR with some anomalies on it” but it wouldn’t just re-fund all the programs that DOGE has said are rife with waste, fraud, and abuse, and “would be a clean CR, mostly, I think, but with some of those changes to adapt to the new realities here. And the new reality is less government, more efficiency, better return for the taxpayers.”
Host Kaitlan Collins asked, “[T]here’s a shutdown deadline that is looming on March 14, which you well know. Do you think Congress is going to end up passing another continuing resolution then?”
Johnson answered, “Well, look, I wish we didn’t have to, but it looks like the Democrats are trying to push us into that. They’ve added these really crazy conditions onto the negotiation over the last week or so. They’ve added a condition that says we have to tie the hands of President Trump, that the legislative branch — they want us to dictate to the executive branch, for example, a base number of employees for each agency in the executive branch. I don’t even think it’s constitutional what they’re requiring, but it’s certainly an absurd notion. But they’re standing by that.”
Collins then cut in to ask, “How long would that CR go, do you believe?”
Johnson answered, “Well, we haven’t negotiated that yet. But if it’s a CR, it may be an entire year-long CR with some anomalies on it, you know how all this works. But it’s not what we prefer. We would like to do individual appropriations bills, but it takes both parties to negotiate that. And, right now, the Democrats are trying to — it looks like, trying to set up a government shutdown. We can’t allow that to happen, and we won’t.”
Collins then asked, “Well, you just talked about how important the work that Elon Musk is doing is. If you pass a continuing resolution, won’t that just re-fund all the programs that he says he’s cutting that are full of waste, fraud, and abuse?”
Johnson answered, “No. Look, you can — that’s why I say you add anomalies to a CR. You can increase some spending, you can decrease some spending, you can add language that says, for example, the dramatic changes that have been made to USAID would be reflected in the ongoing spending. It would be a clean CR, mostly, I think, but with some of those changes to adapt to the new realities here. And the new reality is less government, more efficiency, better return for the taxpayers. And I think that’s something everybody should welcome.”
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