House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) lauded the seven Senate Democrats and one independent who voted end the longest shutdown in U.S. history.
Johnson spoke with reporters Monday morning and announced “long national nightmare” is over, according to Mediaite.
“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,” Johnson said. “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.”
“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 added.
Johnson also spoke about making up for lost time.
“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,” he said.
“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,” Johnson continued.
The are: Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.); Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.); Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.); Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.); Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.); Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.); and Tim Kaine (D-Va.).
The independent on the list is Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who caucuses with Democrats.
“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,” Johnson said. “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.”
