Johnson: “We believe the long national nightmare will be over tonight”
House Speaker Mike Johnson spoke with reporters at the Capitol, saying “we believe the long national nightmare will be over tonight.”
Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, predicted that he’ll have the votes to approve the Senate-passed funding package this evening.
“We’re very optimistic about the vote tally tonight,” he said. “We think this is going to happen, and we’re sorry that it took this long.”
The speaker put the blame on Democrats for refusing to support a short-term measure to reopen the government over the course of 14 votes in the Senate and one in the House. He said “they have a lot to answer for.”
“It was completely and utterly foolish and pointless in the end, as we’ve said all along,” Johnson said. “I just want to apologize to any Americans who are out there who still have flight cancellations or delays today. I want to apologize to the many American families who were made to go hungry over the last several weeks, our troops and other federal employees who were wondering where their next paycheck would come from. All of that’s on the Democrats.”
Democrats on House Oversight Committee release Epstein emails about Trump
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday released emails exchanged between Jeffrey Epstein and others about President Trump.
Among the documents is a 2011 message from Epstein to Ghislaine Maxwell that said Mr. Trump “spent hours at my house” with one of Epstein’s victims, whose name is redacted. In another email in 2019 to author Michael Wolff, Epstein wrote, “Of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.”
Mr. Trump has previously said he cut ties with Epstein years ago, and he has not been accused of wrongdoing.
Read more here.
Grijalva to be sworn in today
According to a Democratic leadership aide, here’s how Adelita Grijalva’s swearing-in is expected to play out.
The lower chamber is set to reconvene at 4 p.m., when Johnson will administer the oath of office to Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat who was elected on Sept. 23 to replace her late father. Arizona Reps. Paul Gosar, a Republican, and Greg Stanton, a Democrat, are expected to give brief remarks, followed by remarks from Grijalva.
After her remarks, Grijalva is expected to sign a petition to force a vote on releasing files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
House Rules Committee tees up floor vote
The House Rules Committee advanced the Senate-passed funding package overnight, teeing it up for floor action this afternoon. A final vote is expected this evening.
During the hours-long meeting, which began at 6:40 p.m. on Tuesday, House Democrats hammered their Republican colleagues for refusing to negotiate on the Affordable Care Act tax credits, which expire at the end of the year, and being absent from Washington for nearly eight weeks. Republicans took digs at Democrats, blaming them for unneccessarily shutting down the government to please the far left.
Among the amendments offered by Democrats during the meeting was one to extend the expiring health care tax credits for three years and another to strip a provision in the bill that would allow senators to sue for up to $500,000 for data seizures or subpoenas like those after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Both amendments failed.
Some committee Republicans denounced the provision allowing senators to sue over data seizures, but said the House couldn’t amend the bill to remove it because it would prolong the shutdown if it had to be sent back to the Senate.
“It is beside my comprehension that this got put in the bill, and it’s why people have such a low opinion of this town,” GOP Rep. Chip Roy of Texas said. “That provision needs to get fixed, and we need to find a way as a body to get it fixed as soon as possible.”
The meeting ended around 1:30 a.m. with the panel voting along party lines to advance the funding package.
House returns from nearly 2-month absence as government shutdown nears end
The House returns Wednesday for the first time since the start of the government shutdown and nearly two months after it last voted, bringing an end to the chamber’s longest absence in recent memory.
The House has been out of session since Sept. 19, when it passed a Republican measure to fund the government. Arguing that the House had done its job after the vote, Johnson canceled weeks of votes and committee hearings were put on hold.
“We have a lot of business to do,” Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said Monday. “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.”
Read more here.
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/government-shutdown-latest-house-vote-senate-deal-trump/
