Johnson predicts end by Tuesday to partial shutdown as Dems fight DHS funding
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House Speaker Mike Johnson during a press conference on Capitol Hill on Jan. 21. Photo: Saul Loeb / AFP via Getty Images
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) predicted Sunday that the House will end the partial government shutdown by Tuesday, even as he prepares to move forward without Democratic support for Department of Homeland Security funding.
Why it matters: Johnson faces the difficult task of quashing internal GOP tensions after the deadly immigration crackdown in Minnesota scattered appropriations talks. The funding bill would launch a two-week window for high-stakes negotiations over DHS.
- The Senate passed legislation Friday that separated out the fight over immigration enforcement from the effort to prevent a lengthier shutdown. A partial shutdown began Saturday.
- But the relief didn't last long, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) warning Johnson that Democrats wouldn't support the legislation, which includes a two-week stopgap for DHS.
Between the lines: Johnson, acknowledging that Republicans will have to pass a procedural rule, expressed confidence that Congress could fund nearly all federal agencies and set aside two weeks of "good-faith negotiations" on DHS funding.
- The House Rules Committee is set to take up the Senate-passed package Monday.
- "I'm confident that we'll do it at least by Tuesday," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday. "We have a logistical challenge of getting everyone in town and because of the conversation I had with Hakeem Jeffries, I know that we've got to pass a rule and probably do this mostly on our own."
Johnson's right flank has grumbled about the short-term extension for DHS, Axios' Andrew Solender and Kate Santaliz report.
- He said on "Fox News Sunday" that he'll speak with Republicans over the next 24 hours but that he doesn't understand why anyone would disagree.
The other side: Jeffries said on ABC News' "This Week" that the Senate deal was a "meaningful step in the right direction" and that his caucus will also hold discussions Sunday on the path forward.
- "What is clear is that the Department of Homeland Security needs to be dramatically reformed," he said.
- Democrats are demanding that federal agents be unmasked, that they wear body cameras and that warrant usage be tightened.
Friction point: Asked about unmasking agents and mandating they wear identification on Fox, Johnson said those things "would create further danger" and that border czar Tom Homan would not be able to implement them.
- But on NBC, he said he believed Homan, Trump's new man on the ground in Minnesota, would accept demands to end roving immigration patrols and to equip agents with body cameras.
Democrats are holding firm on reforming the embattled department.
- Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), a "firm no" on voting to reopen the government, said on "Meet the Press" that he can't "vote to give more money to ICE agents as they're violating our Constitutional rights."
Zoom out: The killing of Minnesota nurse Alex Pretti was the pressure that cracked open the GOP dam on Trump's sweeping immigration enforcement approach, triggering lawmaker questions and a reshuffling of personnel in the Twin Cities.
- "What I worry about is turning a winning issue into a liability," said retiring Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) on CBS News' "Face the Nation."
- "I still believe the American people want us to remove dangerous violent criminals from the streets. But they don't want to see these images of children and people being dragged out of their cars."
Go deeper: Mike Johnson braces for conservative revolt over ICE funding deal
