Speaker Johnson Moves to Force Democrats to Pass Republicans’ ‘Clean’ Spending Bill

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has canceled next week’s vote in a bid to force Democrats’ hand in approving Republicans’ spending bill.

Democrats have repeatedly rejected passing a continuing resolution, which would keep the government operational for an additional seven weeks until a budget deal can be reached.

Republicans have drafted a “clean” bill that Democrats could vote on immediately to end the shutdown, The Hill reported.

Instead, they’ve let it drag on so that they can blame Republicans while hoping to hold out long enough to get their spending priorities funded, including reversing spending cuts made earlier this year.

However, Johnson is onto their tricks and has already been dropping hints that he might decide to cancel the vote altogether in the House of Representatives, just ahead of the Senate’s revote.

“The House will come back into session and do its work as soon as Chuck Schumer allows us to reopen the government,” Johnson said.

Sure enough, Johnson designated a “district work period” for the week of Oct. 7-13, meaning business will not be conducted in the House of Representatives.

Johnson canceled votes last week for the Senate, but he’s excused the House lawmakers, who have been on recess since the shutdown began, from duty for another week.

At the beginning of last week, Johnson had promised to continue and planned to bring congressional representatives back to Washington, D.C., for the coming week.

“Yes, the House will be returning next week, and they would be here this week, except that we did our work,” Johnson said on Wednesday.

“But there is nothing truly that we can do, much on the floor, while the lights are almost literally out here. We have to open the government,” Johnson later added.

Now it seems that both sides are unwilling to budge, and it has them locked in an impasse as the government grinds to a halt.

Republicans believe they have crafted an acceptable spending bill, but Democrats continue to hold out for their pet causes as the closure drags on.

“We passed it, and it’s been rejected by the Senate,” Johnson told reporters, according to Fox News.

“So the House will come back into session and do its work as soon as Chuck Schumer allows us to reopen the government.

“That’s plain and simple.”

Still, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has promised to bring his caucus to Washington, D.C. this week and has kept House Democrats in town despite the shutdown.

House Republicans were expected to participate in a conference call Saturday morning as well.

Friday’s downvote marks the fourth time the Senate has voted against the Republicans’ effort to keep the government open with a continuing resolution.

Instead, Democrats want to pack additional spending onto the budget, including $88 million in extra security for lawmakers and extending the Obamacare healthcare subsidies set to expire this year.

They also want to reverse Medicaid cuts that were included in President Donald Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” earlier this year.

Democrats also wish to reinstate funding for PBS and NPR, which are supposed to serve all Americans but are operating as leftist mouthpieces.

Meanwhile, Democrats are playing games, both with the spending bill and the way they’re characterizing the decision to shut down Congress.

They have accused Republicans of purposely delaying a vote, forcing the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files.

Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) needed the signature of one more lawmaker to make it happen, but will fall short now that Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) can’t be sworn in.

Republicans see this for what it is, as a political ploy, but Democrats believe they have another issue to club Republicans with after this.

“Johnson and the House Republicans care more about protecting the Epstein files than protecting the American people,” Schumer claimed.

Both sides blame the other for the shutdown, but it’s clear that Democrats want to make political capital that they believe comes from holding out.

Unfortunately for them, they’ve likely gravely miscalculated as the American people saw through their tricks enough to vote against them in the first place.

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