House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday laid out his key demand for government funding negotiations: Spend less.

Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, said he would like the House and the Senate to hold an “old-school” conference committee negotiation to resolve their disagreements over three spending bills, even if they have to rely on a stopgap for the remainder.

The catch is that he wants the end negotiation to result in less spending for fiscal 2026 than the $1.6 trillion approved for fiscal 2025.

“If Democrats are willing to work with us, we have our sleeves rolled up, and we want to do this in good faith,” he said. “We just have to think responsibly how to spend less money than we did last year. And if they’re willing to do that – and it’s incumbent upon all of us to do it with the high national debt — we’re open to that.”

Congress must act on spending legislation by the end of the month to prevent a government shutdown. Mr. Johnson is trying to avoid a straight stopgap extension of current discretionary spending levels, which total $1.6 trillion across the 12 annual appropriations bills.

While Mr. Johnson referred to Democrats’ willingness to spend less, he will have to contend with a contingent of Senate Republicans that want to increase some spending, particularly on defense.

House and Senate appropriators have proposed annual spending bills with different funding levels.

The three bills up for negotiation in a potential conference committee are for funding the departments of Veterans Affairs and Agriculture and the legislative branch.

The chambers are closest in the amount they want to spend on veterans and military construction funding. The Senate-passed bill would provide $153.5 billion, while the House-passed bill would provide $152.1 billion. Both are increases over the $146.5 billion enacted level for fiscal 2025.

The Senate-proposed spending exceeds fiscal 2025’s levels on the other two bills, while the House proposed cuts. The Senate has passed the agriculture and legislative branch spending bills on the floor, while the House has only advanced its versions out of committee.

The fiscal 2025 enacted level for the Agriculture Department and related agencies was $26.6 billion. For fiscal 2026, the Senate has proposed a half-billion-dollar increase to $27.1 billion, and the House proposed a billion-dollar cut to $25.5 billion.

The Senate is also seeking an increase in the legislative branch funding for Congress and its related entities from $6.7 billion in fiscal 2025 to $7.1 billion in fiscal 2026. The House, meanwhile, proposed a slight cut of $51 million.

Mr. Johnson is advocating for a House-Senate conference committee to resolve their differences on the three bills as a way to restore a semblance of regular order to the appropriations process.

“You’d have a cross section of everybody there, a good representation of the country, a good and I think vigorous debate between the House and Senate,” he said. “And that is how the process is supposed to work.”

• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.