On this week’s broadcast of Fox News Channel’s “Fox News Sunday,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said President Donald Trump was “eager” and “determined” to reopen the federal government as quickly as possible.
Anchor Shannon Bream began: “So the president says it’s about getting rid of the filibuster, not something you have to deal with on the House side. But he’s putting pressure on your Senate colleagues, saying, get rid of the 60 vote threshold. You can move most things by a majority vote in the House. Here’s part of one of his recent posts. He says, ‘Remember Republicans, regardless of the Schumer shutdown, the Democrats will terminate the filibuster the first chance they get. They’ll pack the Supreme Court, pick up two states, and add at least eight electoral votes. Don’t be weak and stupid, Republicans you will rule rue the day that you didn’t terminate the filibuster. Be tough, be smart and win.’”
She then asked Johnson: “There are some GOP senators indicating at least the tiniest open door to possibly making changes. What’s your advice to the other side of the Hill?”
“Well, I think there’s a lot of Democrats. I mean, a lot of senators, Republican and Democrat, who have resisted it in the past. We, on our side traditionally have resisted that because the worst impulses of the far left Democrat Party, they would pack the court,” Johnson began.
“They would do all the things the president. Let’s discuss there. I think what you’re seeing there is a reflection of his anger, his real frustration that the government is closed. He he is a big-hearted president,” the Speaker and Louisiana Republican continued.
“He wants everybody to get their services, and the health services for veterans and SNAP benefits and all the rest. And he’s tried everything he can, and he is now exhausting his ability. The courts are now saying you can’t go any further. So he’s just desperate for the government to open. He’s tried everything,” Johnson said.
“He’s tried to negotiate with them. He’s he’s pleaded with them and they’re still dug their heels in. So this is a reflection of all of our desperation. We’re angry about it. I think we should be.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said Sunday that he’s hopeful the government shutdown could end this week now that President Trump has returned from his trip to Asia.
In an interview on CBS News’s “Face the Nation,” Warner avoided specifying where Democrats might be willing to compromise in the monthlong funding standoff but urged the president to return to the negotiating table.
Asked at what point the “pain and pressure” from air traffic controllers and other government workers will finally “end the shutdown,” Warner said, “I hope it ends it this week.”
“We knew this wasn’t going to end unless Donald Trump was back in the country. He’s now back in the country. He’s got to go ahead and put America first and sit down with us, deal with the health care shortage,” Warner added, as Democrats begin to feel the heat from the media and others normally friendly to his party.
He noted further that any negotiation will “require Trump in the room.”
“It’s why the bipartisan conversation so far, I don’t think we’ll ever get to ‘yes’ because unfortunately, my Republican colleagues can’t move on anything without a Trump sign-off,” Warner said.
“Trump has spent enough time going out there now trying to audition for a Nobel Prize, running around the world. Come back and put America first. Sit down and let’s get this resolved. It can be done in an hour,” Warner said without addressing the fact that Senate Democrats have voted no to fund and reopen the government 14 times.