Democrats are demanding $1.5 trillion in new partisan spending – including $5 billion for wasteful international projects – before they’ll vote to reopen the government, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Tuesday.

“I want you to know what that (Democrat) counterproposal includes, because we’ve not yet gone into all the details of it. It’s large and very absurd,” Johnson said.

In addition to a half-billion dollars of taxpayer funding for leftist media outlets via the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Democrats are also demanding $200 billion for health care for illegal aliens, Johnson said.

“It would also restore up to $5 billion of American taxpayer funds for wasteful spending for international projects,” Speaker Johnson said, providing examples of items in the Democrats’ counterproposal to the House-passed continuing resolution that would fund and reopen the federal government:

• $3.9 million for LGBTQI+ democracy grants in the western Balkans.
• $2 million for organizing for feminist democratic principles in Africa.
• $2.9 million for desert locust risk reduction in the Horn of Africa.
• $24.6 million for climate resilience in Honduras.
• $13.4 million for civic engagement in Zimbabwe.

“We are not doing that,” House Speaker Johnson said.

The Democrat Government Shutdown is doing real harm to the American people. While Democrats continue to celebrate suffering, they demand $1.5 TRILLION in new partisan spending to end it.

Here’s what they want????
• $200B for FREE health care for ILLEGAL ALIENS
• ENDING work… pic.twitter.com/ikNgdPl31R

— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) October 14, 2025