Mike Johnson Applauds Eight Senators Who Broke Ranks With Democrats to End ‘Long National Nightmare’
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) made a public statement on Monday following the U.S. Senate’s vote to advance legislation to fund the government and end the longest shutdown in U.S. history. Johnson praised the seven Democrats and one independent senator who broke ranks with the Democrats to vote for the compromise funding measure, while announcing that the “long national nightmare” is over.
“Air travel has been grinding to a halt in many places, and as of Sunday, nearly half of all domestic flights in U.S. were either canceled or delayed. It’s a very serious situation, so I’m saying that by way of reminder—I’m stating the obvious to all my colleagues, Republicans and Democrats in the House—you need to begin right now returning to the Hill,” Johnson said, calling members of Congress back to DC.
“We have to do this as quickly as possible, and we look forward to the government reopening this week so Congress can get back—can get back to our regular legislative session. We have a lot of business to do, as you all know, and we will be working in earnest,” he continued, adding:
There’ll be long days and long nights here for the foreseeable future to make up for all this lost time that was imposed upon us. I want to close in with something that’s important. It’s important to say that this is genuine. I mean this sincerely: We applaud the seven Senate Democrats and one independent senator who did the right thing.
They decided to put principle over their personal politics, and my urgent plea to all my colleagues in the House—and that means every Democrat in the House—is to think carefully, pray, and finally do the right thing and help us to bring an end to the pain of the American people. This has gone on too long. Too many people have suffered, and it’s long overdue. That’s the update I wanted to give you this morning. There are probably lots of questions, but I’m going to get a lot of my own questions answered later today, so stay tuned for more. Thanks so much.
CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer then picked up the coverage again as Johnson did not take questions.
“There you have the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, making the statement. Important words. ‘Our long national nightmare,’ he says, ‘finally coming to an end.’ It appears to be the end of the federal government shutdown, but there’s still plenty of things that need to be done in the Senate and then the House of Representatives. So there’s still plenty of work that needs to be done, but let’s see how all this unfolds,” added Blitzer.
Watch the clip above via CNN.
