{"id":14240,"date":"2025-10-09T23:31:46","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T23:31:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/mike-johnson-sticks-to-no-show-shutdown-strategy-as-resistance-mounts\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T23:31:46","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T23:31:46","slug":"mike-johnson-sticks-to-no-show-shutdown-strategy-as-resistance-mounts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/mike-johnson-sticks-to-no-show-shutdown-strategy-as-resistance-mounts\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Johnson sticks to no-show shutdown strategy as resistance mounts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

For Mike Johnson<\/a>, not showing up is the entire battle.<\/p>\n

The speaker made clear Thursday \u2014 eight days into the government shutdown \u2014 he is committed to keeping the House out of session as long as it takes to pressure Senate Democrats to act on the stopgap funding bill<\/a> his chamber passed three weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Johnson is holding firm on the indefinite recess strategy even as pressure mounts inside his own conference to bring members back to Washington, with more and more GOP lawmakers prodding him to change course.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is absolutely no reason for the House to be out of session \u2014 it\u2019s embarrassing,\u201d Rep. Kevin Kiley<\/a> (R-Calif.) said in an interview. \u201cThe government is shut down, Americans are losing access to critical services, workers are being furloughed and the House isn\u2019t even in Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dozens of House Republicans are begging Johnson to reconvene the House to advance a standalone bill to pay troops<\/a> during the shutdown, so active-duty servicemembers don\u2019t miss their paychecks Oct. 15. That includes Rep. Elise Stefanik<\/a> of New York \u2014 a member of Johnson\u2019s own leadership team.<\/p>\n

Senior House Republicans and leadership aides are mindful of the growing unrest. But they fear the alternative: Bringing members back to Washington without a resolution to the shutdown in hand, they believe, would invite chaos.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d have people tearing each other from limb to limb,\u201d said one senior GOP aide granted anonymity to speak candidly about internal party thinking.<\/p>\n

Johnson, who clashed in the hallway this week with two Democratic senators over the shutdown, acknowledged those concerns Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmotions are high. People are upset \u2014 I’m upset,\u201d he said. \u201cIs it better for them, probably, to be physically separated right now? Yeah, it probably is, frankly.\u201d<\/p>\n

GOP leaders have drawn a hard line on a variety of tactics their members have proposed. But some in the GOP who were already wary of the looming troop pay deadline were rattled by the speaker\u2019s remarkable C-SPAN exchange with a Republican military mom Thursday morning, in which she begged him<\/a> to advance the standalone troop pay bill, warning her medically fragile children \u201ccould die.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t think it’s going to be any consolation to members of our military who miss paychecks to say, \u2018Oh well, it is the Senate’s fault,\u2019\u201d Kiley said.<\/p>\n

But Johnson counseled Republicans<\/a> to say exactly that in a private call Thursday, saying the best message would be to tell voters \u201cwe\u2019ve done our job\u201d and now the onus is on Senate Democrats to reopen the government.<\/p>\n

One option being pushed by the group concerned about troop pay is to try to pass that legislation by unanimous consent on the floor during Friday\u2019s pro forma session, which would not require calling members back to Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we have a way to make sure our troops get their paychecks, we should pursue that,\u201d Kiley said.<\/p>\n

GOP Reps. Jay Obernolte<\/a> of California and Julie Fedorchak<\/a> of North Dakota warned the speaker directly on the Thursday call about the political fallout of keeping the House in recess as the Senate standoff continues.<\/p>\n

At least one Senate Republican shared that sentiment: \u201cI think you’ve got to be here,\u201d Sen. Thom Tillis<\/a> of North Carolina said. \u201cThe leadership of the House and other members, I think they should be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

But some in the House GOP fired back across the Capitol, arguing Senate Republicans should simply go \u201cnuclear\u201d and change their chamber\u2019s rules to pass the House continuing resolution with a simple majority vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to get rid of this cloture vote so you can do what the American people want us to do,\u201d Rep. John Rutherford<\/a> (R-Fla.) said. Senate Majority Leader John Thune<\/a> ruled out that possibility Thursday.<\/p>\n

The back-and-forth among Republicans underscored the risks for Johnson of bringing all 432 members back to town. Not only would he have to contend with a barrage of potential off-message comments about the shutdown, he would have to tackle the Jeffrey Epstein saga \u2014 with his promised swearing-in of Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) likely forcing a long-awaited floor vote<\/a> on the late sex offender.<\/p>\n

Rutherford is one of many rank-and-file House Republicans who are backing up Johnson\u2019s strategy, arguing there\u2019s no reason at the moment to bring members back. Rutherford, a GOP appropriator, said \u201cthere\u2019s nothing to do.\u201d That includes the nine fiscal 2026 appropriations bills the House still needs to pass \u2014 because, he said, lawmakers have not yet reached a topline agreement with the Senate on how much those bills will spend.<\/p>\n

But then there is Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene<\/a> (R-Ga.), a MAGA stalwart who has taken the rare step of openly bashing Johnson\u2019s strategy \u2014 and backing up Democrats\u2019 focus on an impending health care \u201ccrisis.\u201d Her critical comments have incensed many of the speaker\u2019s leadership allies and rank-and-file Republicans alike.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not putting the blame\u201d on President Donald Trump, she said in a BLN interview Thursday. \u201cI\u2019m actually putting the blame on the speaker and Leader Thune in the Senate. This should not be happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump’s interests, however, continue complicating matters for Republicans on Capitol Hill. While Johnson and Thune try to pin servicemembers\u2019 potential missed Oct. 15 paychecks on Democrats, the president has publicly promised this week that he wouldn\u2019t let troops go unpaid. White House officials privately say they are considering how to shift funds<\/a> to ensure the checks go out.<\/p>\n

One Senate Republican said Thursday night their understanding for now is \u201cthe White House is going to take care of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

GOP leadership circles have been increasingly frustrated by the White House position, according to three people granted anonymity to discuss private sentiments. But among those House Republicans supporting White House action include Rep. Mike Bost<\/a> of Illinois, the Veterans Affairs Committee chair.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we find that there’s a way that the administration can do it, then more power to them,\u201d said Bost. \u201cBut right now, [Democrats] all of a sudden, asking us to take a vote we’ve already made three weeks ago makes no sense.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Mike Johnson, not showing up is the entire battle. The speaker made clear Thursday \u2014 eight days into the government shutdown \u2014 he is committed to keeping the House out of session as long as it takes to pressure Senate Democrats to act on the stopgap funding bill his chamber passed three weeks ago. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14240\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}