Johnson summons House back to DC to end shutdown as Jeffries tells Dems to vote ‘No’

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has summoned the House back into session to pass a stopgap funding bill as soon as Wednesday that would end the longest government shutdown in US history, even as Democrats led by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and some GOPers are agitating against some of the bill’s provisions.

Votes could kick off by 4 p.m. Wednesday after Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) is sworn in, bringing the number of Democrats in the House up to 214, but their leader indicated that he expected no member of his party to defect.

“House Democrats will strongly oppose any legislation that does not decisively address the Republican healthcare crisis,” Jeffries told CNN on Tuesday.

“We want to reopen the government. We’ll continue to stand by our hardworking federal employees and civil servants,” the House Democratic leader added. “But we have a responsibility to make sure that we extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits so that tens of millions of Americans don’t experience dramatically-increased healthcare costs that’s going to prevent them from being able to see a doctor when they need one.”

Republicans have a 219 majority in the chamber, affording them just two “no” votes before their own conference would tank the funding legislation.

A spokesperson for Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) indicated that the congressman’s position hadn’t “changed” since he voted with Republicans to pass the funding bill in September before the shutdown was forced by Senate Democrats — providing the GOP some breathing room in the House.

Johnson gave House reps just 36 hours on Monday to jet, train, drive and in at least one case motorcycle back to Capitol Hill, declaring that the “long national nightmare” of the shutdown was “finally coming to an end.”

“As of Sunday, nearly half of all domestic flights and US flights were either canceled or delayed. And it’s a very serious situation,” added the House speaker. “So, I’m saying that by way of reminder, I’m stating the obvious to all my colleagues, Republicans and Democrats in the House. You need to begin right now returning to the Hill. We have to do this as quickly as possible.”

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Tuesday moved to reduce the number of flights in US airspace by 6%, pursuant to an order from Transportation Secretary meant to account for the overworked air traffic control sector monitoring passengers’ safety and pilot routes.

In a 60-40 vote Monday, the Senate passed an amended funding bill with full-year spending for federal food stamps, veterans services and the legislative branch, among other smaller items like military construction, in addition to stopgap spending for the rest of the government until Jan. 30, 2026.

House lawmakers will debate the revised bill in the GOP-controlled Rules Committee before it can proceed to the floor, providing an opportunity for other amendments.

Rep. Thomas Massie, who sits on the Rules panel, intends to strike language about a hemp ban from the funding bill after his fellow Kentucky Republican, Sen. Rand Paul, tried and failed to the same in the upper chamber.

“We are concerned that Speaker Johnson and Rules committee will refuse to allow any amendments to be made in order,” noted a Massie spokesman on Tuesday.

Paul’s amendment went down in flames in a 76-24 vote, but it’s unclear if the inclusion of the hemp ban will cause more issues in the House after it divided some Republicans in the Senate.

After the funding measure is voted out of the Rules Committee, Jeffries has also signaled that Democrats may force a vote on an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies.

Jeffries in a Monday press conference said “the overwhelming majority of Senate Democrats, led by Chuck Schumer, have waged a valiant fight over the last seven weeks, defeating the partisan Republican spending bill 14 or 15 different times, week after week after week.”

President Trump crowed in a Fox News interview later that night that Schumer “thought he could break the Republicans and the Republicans broke him.”

House Democrats had rejected the funding bill on Sept. 19 in part because it lacked those Obamacare tax credits, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) prolonged the shutdown from Oct. 1 for more than 40 days before seven Democratic senators broke ranks.

They joined the GOP to pass the revised bill, which included no extension of the enhanced health insurance credits, though Democrats were able to reverse the Trump administration’s firings of federal workers during the shutdown.

All federal workers furloughed or made to work while missing paychecks will also be given backpay. Trump is expected to sign the legislation authorizing the changes shortly after it passes.

“As we said from the beginning, the people’s government cannot be held hostage to further anyone’s political agenda,” Johnson told reporters Monday. “That was never right, and shutting down the government never produces anything. It never has if you study history.”