‘How Often Do I Do This Story?’ Jake Tapper Not Thrilled About Covering Another Potential Government Shutdown

Jake Tapper is not exactly stoked to cover another potential government shutdown.

Unless the House, Senate, and White House agree on measures to fund the federal government, it will shut down on Friday night. The government was slated to shut down at the end of September, but the House passed a bipartisan short-term funding deal that extended the deadline to Nov. 17. More Democrats voted for it than Republicans, a fact that caused a rebellion among a small group of GOP hardliners, who subsequently managed to oust then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from his position.

“In our politics lead, after a long holiday weekend, members of Congress dragged themselves back to Washington, D.C. this afternoon to try to prevent a government shutdown at the end of the week,” Tapper said on Monday’s edition of The Lead. “How often do I do this story? I feel like they just put this in the teleprompter like every three months.”

Tapper went to CNN’s Manu Raju on Capitol Hill.

“Speaker Johnson’s plan does have a familiar problem, Manu,” Tapper said of Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) funding proposal. “Let me guess what it is… He doesn’t have enough Republican votes.”

“That’s absolutely right,” the reporter replied. “In fact, at the moment, Johnson is trying to court his Republican colleagues.”

Raju noted that Reps. Andy Ogles (R-TN) and Chip Roy (R-TX) oppose the bill, leaving Johnson with little room for error in the narrowly divided Republican-controlled House – assuming no Democrats vote for the legislation.

After Raju concluded his report, Tapper got real.

“Manu, it’s just you and me,” the host said. “No one’s listening. Do you ever get tired of covering the same story over and over? Seriously, no one else is watching.”

“It’s Groundhog Day up here, Jake,” Raju responded with a laugh. “There’s no question about it.”

“You can tell me later,” Tapper said.

Watch above via CNN.