House Speaker Mike Johnson fears that Democrats have walked away from the negotiating table as the deadline to fund the government is sneaking up on Congress.
Passing President Trump’s agenda, particularly agreeing on a budget blueprint, has sucked up much of the oxygen in Washington since the 119th Congress started in January. But a March 14 deadline to fund the government or careen into a partial government shutdown has still crept closer.
Exactly how lawmakers will avoid a shutdown is being debated. Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, warned that Democrats seem unwilling to negotiate.
“It seems that way,” Mr. Johnson told reporters on Friday. “From their comments, Leader [Hakeem] Jeffries seemed to be trying to set up some sort of a government shutdown. We have been negotiating in good faith, trying to get a topline number. But so far as I know, they’ve been unresponsive the past two days or so.”
The speaker has floated pairing a government funding deal with disaster aid for California and an increase to the debt ceiling, a Trump priority, which Democrats have largely balked at.
In order to pass spending legislation, particularly with a paper-thin majority, Mr. Johnson will likely need Democrats to help.
But House Minority Leader Jeffries, New York Democrat, threw cold water on Mr. Johnson’s sentiment with a one-word response: “projection.”
“Republicans control the House, the Senate and the presidency,” he later clarified. “They have every vote that they need, as we’ve been lectured to do whatever the heck they want to the American people.”
He added, “Democrats continue to negotiate with our Republican colleagues. We want to find bipartisan common ground in funding the government to meet the needs of the American people.”
And the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, fired back at Mr. Johnson, arguing that he was “mistaken.”
“No one has walked away from the table,” she posted on X. “We sent them an offer yesterday. He should give Chairman Cole a call for a status update.”
Indeed, House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, Oklahoma Republican, told reporters that he and Ms. DeLauro communicated on a spending deal but that he still didn’t have anything that could pass muster with his GOP colleagues.
A funding extension isn’t off the table either, but Mr. Cole said he wasn’t giving up.
“The deal is like you either have it or you don’t,” he said. “Right now we don’t.”
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.