Speaker Mike Johnson said he hopes Tuesday’s elections are a “sea change” in the weeks-long government funding stalemate as the impacts of the shutdown become more painful for many Americans.
“I hope the election tomorrow is a change, a sea change in all this,” Johnson told reporters Monday morning, predicting that Democrats could “make the calculation” that they can soften their demands without the fear voters will “punish” them and drive low turnout.
“Maybe after tomorrow, they’ll come to their common senses again and do the right thing,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he talked “multiple times” this weekend with President Donald Trump, whom he said was “desperate” to ensure SNAP benefits continue, defending the administration’s previous position that there was a “legal impediment” to covering those costs.
“What the President said, logically, was, ‘OK, Your Honor, if you’re saying we can do it, I’ll go for that, because I want SNAP to go to the people. It’s the Democrats that stopped it, not us,’” he said, adding Trump “wants SNAP to be done, but he doesn’t see the mechanism to do it.”
The speaker also said Trump’s push to eliminate the filibuster came up during their talks and that he’s shared his thoughts about the importance of limiting the power of the majority in the Senate.
“As much as I have wanted to blow up the filibuster sometimes as a House member when we were not getting what we wanted done in our agenda, I hear my Senate Republican colleagues, some of the most conservative people in Congress, who say it’s an important safeguard,” Johnson said.
