Speaker Mike Johnson told House Republicans on a private call Saturday that he will give 48-hour notice if they are needed for a vote at the Capitol this week, should the Senate approve a stopgap measure to reopen the government, according to four people with direct knowledge of the call.
On the call, the speaker tried to rally his members, saying the House has completed its work by already approving the seven-week stopgap measure. The House would return when Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer reopens the government, Johnson added.
But it’s unlikely the House will be back at all this week, after Johnson called off votes. The House is currently out until Oct. 14.
“No change in message,” said one of the people, all of whom were granted anonymity to discuss the private call. “We’ve done our work, let the Senate do theirs.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said on the call that the next upcoming pressure point for Democrats is Oct. 15 — the day when active duty military will miss their first paycheck — urging GOP members to pressure Democrats over this deadline.
A variety of senior and rank-and-file members spoke on the call in support of Johnson’s push, with a majority of House Republicans believing they’re in the right to keep up pressure on Senate Democrats to cave on their shutdown demands. That includes an extension of soon to expire Obamacare subsidies, which Johnson and GOP leaders insist they will not negotiate over as part of the standoff.
Senate Democrats are continuing to assert that they need a firm commitment, or an offer in writing, from Republicans to extend the Obamacare subsidies due to expire at the end of the year. But Senate Republicans insist that they will only negotiate on the issue after the government reopens.
Democrats have hammered House Republicans for not returning to Washington amid the funding crisis.
“It’s also irresponsible that House Republicans continue to be on vacation throughout the country and the world,” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on MSNBC on Saturday. “They canceled votes last week, and now they’ve canceled votes again this week, because they’re not interested in actually trying to find common ground in a common-sense way.”
On the call, House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told Republican members they need to let constituents know that House Republicans did their job by passing a funding bill, and until the government opens they can’t get to work.
“Everybody’s pretty comfortable with where we are,” one Republican appropriator said, noting they can’t even negotiate with Democrats “because there’s nothing in that CR that we can change or give up.”
