Johnson: 'Long national nightmare' coming to end
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson holds a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Monday. Credit: EPA/Shutterstock/Annabelle Gordon
House Speaker Mike Johnson is telling lawmakers they should begin returning to Washington “right now,” so that final passage of the deal to end the U.S. shutdown can be done as quickly as possible later this week.
“It appears to us this morning that our long national nightmare is finally coming to an end, and we're grateful for that," Johnson said at a news conference on Monday, "We look forward to the government reopening this week, so Congress can get back to our regular legislative session."
The Senate will take at least through Wednesday to finish its floor action on the package — largely due to procedural rules and expected delays cause by amendment proposals. But the House wants to act on the measure immediately upon the Senate sending it over, Johnson said.
The House has not voted since Sept. 19, including through the entirety of the record-setting government closure, which reached 41 days on Monday. As a result, Johnson said the House has a lot of other work to do.
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