‘We are committed to restoring normalcy,’ Johnson told Fox News Digital.
Speaker Mike Johnson has warned that if the Democrat-controlled chamber tries to compel the House GOP to bring complicated multi-subject budget measures to the House floor, the House and Senate could be at a “impasse” on federal funding.
“We sent appropriations bills to the Senate, and they did nothing with them.” “Ultimately, we will be in a conference committee working out final agreements and all of these things, but we are hopeful that the Senate will do their job,” Johnson said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
The House has approved five of the twelve individual spending bills that will fund the government for the next fiscal year. This week, they plan to consider three more.
None have been brought up for a vote in the Senate, where Democrats have chastised Republicans for drafting spending proposals that fall short of the levels agreed upon in the bipartisan debt-limit accord. However, appropriators in the Senate revealed a bipartisan agreement last week to merge three spending bills into a “minibus.”
The House has approved five of the twelve individual spending bills that will fund the government for the next fiscal year. This week, they plan to consider three more.
Johnson told Fox News Digital that if Schumer submitted a minibus or an omnibus to the House instead of the 12 individual spending bills, the House and Senate would be “at an impasse.”
“We are committed to restoring normalcy, which means…12 separate appropriations bills.” And I believe that people agree with us,” Johnson remarked.
The Democratic-controlled Congress funded the government via a single massive omnibus spending measure last year, which a majority of Republicans oppose.
“The issue with omnibus and minibus spending bills is that they are irresponsible… Too much money is spent, and there is frequently insufficient accountability for it. And the American people are unable to keep track of how their money is being spent. And that has to change,” Johnson added.
“We owe that to the people, to restore some sort of common sense in this process and allow the citizens that we represent to be able to follow and understand what’s happening here.”
On September 30, Congress enacted a continuing resolution (CR), a short-term extension of last year’s fiscal goals, narrowly avoiding a government shutdown. This financing will run out on November 17th.
Johnson indicated that he would not submit another so-called “clean” CR, but that the specifics of what House Republicans would need to add are still unknown.
“We haven’t arrived yet.” “Those discussions about how to fit conservative priorities into a short-term spending bill will begin in earnest this week,” he said. “I don’t want to put any markers out there yet, there are lots of ideas on the table.”
