Speaker Johnson: ‘Very optimistic’ Congress will avert shutdown

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said Tuesday after meeting with President Biden and Congressional leaders at the White House that he is “very optimistic” that a shutdown of Congress will be avoided by Friday’s deadline. Ta.

“We’ve been working faithfully, literally around the clock, every day, for months, weeks, and the last few days to get that job done. We’re very optimistic,” Johnson said at the White House. He spoke to reporters on the lawn of

“We believe we can reach agreement on these issues and prevent a government shutdown. That is our first responsibility,” he added.

The positive outlook was announced three days before Friday’s partial government funding deadline, when four of the 12 annual spending bills are due. Without Congressional action, many programs and institutions will close. The remaining eight bills expire on March 8th.

Congressional leaders had expected to announce a compromise spending measure over the weekend, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told lawmakers in a letter Sunday that negotiators have It was announced that no agreement had been reached yet.

Mr. Schumer blamed House Republicans for the delay, saying, “It’s clear that House Republicans need more time to collect themselves,” but Mr. Johnson said the delay was caused by “Democrats. This is due to the new demands of the government.

With no substantive progress made by the deadline, another short-term stopgap bill is needed to keep the lights on and give negotiators more time to resolve their differences. There are growing rumors that this may happen.