House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said at a press conference on Monday that Senate Democrats must take the next step to end the ongoing partial government shutdown because "the House has done its job."
The U.S. government entered the sixth day of a partial shutdown on Monday after lawmakers failed to reach a budget agreement the week before.
"There's nothing for us to negotiate. The House has done its job," Johnson said in remarks to reporters on Monday.
He added, "The ball is in the court of the Senate Democrats."
According to Johnson, Republicans "want to improve healthcare," but Democrats have "decided they would pick a fight with healthcare."
He added that Congress will take up a debate on healthcare issues sometime in the next three months and noted that he and Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, had a "fruitful discussion" last week about the appropriations process.
"I told her, it is my full intention that if we break this impasse and we put these bills together — we have three of them in conference committee right now — whatever the conference committee comes up with, I will put on the floor," Johnson said on Monday.
"I’m ready to go," he added, saying that Murray "wanted an assurance" that he would allow a House floor vote on appropriations bills that bipartisan negotiators put forth, which he agreed to.
"I say the same things privately that I say publicly," Johnson said he told Murray. "We are consistent."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.