Top House Democrats are pushing back hard against accusations from Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) that they’ve walked away from the negotiations over government spending, saying it’s Republicans who have abandoned the talks to address internal differences in the GOP.
“Projection,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). “Rosa DeLauro … has been trying to get Republicans to respond to her for weeks — weeks.”
Johnson stirred the finger pointing on Thursday morning when he blamed Democrats for the failure of negotiators to reach a topline number to guide the federal funding effort. Without congressional action, large parts of the government would shut down after March 14.
“Leader Jeffries and others seem to be trying to set up some sort of government shutdown,” Johnson told reporters in the Capitol.
“We were negotiating in good faith and trying to get the top line number, but so far as I know, they’ve been sort of unresponsive the last two days or so. So, I hope we can get back to it.”
DeLauro (Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, rejected Johnson’s claims out of hand. She’s been in talks with the panel’s chairman, Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), and said she delivered the Democrats’ latest offer on Thursday.
“The Speaker should check in with Mr. Cole to know about what the offers are. We are at the table, we are working. I guess the Speaker just hasn’t been informed about what is going on,” DeLauro said.
“He knows not of what he speaks.”
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), the ranking member of the Rules Committee, was more forceful. He said Johnson is struggling to reach a spending agreement because he’s waiting for marching orders from President Trump and Elon Musk, the billionaire Trump ally who’s heading the administration’s cost-cutting efforts.
“First of all, he’s full of s—. He’s a liar. And he’s a total shill for Donald Trump and Elon Musk,” McGovern said.
“So he can blame anybody he wants … but we’re not walking away from the table,” McGovern continued. “They’re not interested in hearing from us at this particular point. Maybe they will be in March.”
The back-and-forth comes as Johnson and other GOP leaders are scrambling to unite their conference behind a spending package to fund the government through the rest of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.
Amid that debate, conservatives are pressing for steep cuts in federal programs; moderate Republicans are wary of many of those cuts; and Democrats are largely opposed to the cuts — disagreements that have caused negotiators to blow through their initial self-imposed deadline for reaching a topline deal.
Still, Johnson is putting all the blame for the impasse on Democrats.
“You need to ask Hakeem Jeffries about that,” he said. “That’s what’s stalled.”
Jeffries responded to the accusations by noting that Republicans control all levers of power in Washington and have promised voters that they’d use it to make good on campaign promises.
“You’ve lectured America that you have a big mandate,” Jeffries said. “Where is it?”
DeLauro said she’s optimistic that the sides will come together in time to avert a shutdown on March 14. But the timeline, she said, is for the majority Republicans to dictate.
“When the Republicans want to move forward, then we will go forward,” she said.
“But it is in their hands.”
Emily Brooks and Mychael Schnell contributed.
