Republican pressures Johnson to reconvene House as shutdown becomes one of the longest in US history

 

Republican pressures Johnson to reconvene House as shutdown becomes one of the longest in US history

 

Marjorie Taylor Greene criticizes House speaker’s strategy, calling on the House to return to session immediately

 

Joseph Gedeon in Washington

Mon 20 Oct 2025 16.26 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/20/government-shutdown-republicans-longest-history

 

The US government shutdown extended into its 20th day on Monday with no resolution in sight, as a prominent Republican lawmaker publicly broke ranks with party leadership over the decision of Mike Johnson, the House speaker, to keep Congress shuttered for weeks.

 

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a representative of Georgia, on Monday morning criticized Johnson’s strategy, calling on the House to return to session immediately.

 

“The House should be in session working,” Greene wrote on X. “We should be finishing appropriations. Our committees should be working. We should be passing bills that make President Trump’s executive orders permanent. I have no respect for the decision to refuse to work.”

 

The callout from Greene, who is aligned with the right flank of her party, is a noticeable crack in support for Johnson’s hardline approach from the GOP over an extended congressional recess. Since 19 September, when members last cast votes, the chamber has not been conducting legislative business, although members have staged press conferences.

 

The shutdown, which began on 1 October, has become the longest full government shutdown in US history, and the third-longest when including partial shutdowns. If it extends past Tuesday, it will surpass the 21-day shutdown of 1995-96 to claim second place. Only the 35-day partial shutdown during Donald Trump’s first term, from December 2018 to January 2019, has lasted longer.

 

Johnson has defended his strategy as necessary to pressure Senate Democrats into passing the House’s clean continuing resolution without policy additions. But Democrats have refused to support the measure without provisions addressing healthcare subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, which are set to expire at year’s end.

 

The speaker, in a Monday morning press conference flanked by other Republican congressional leaders including Andy Harris, the House Freedom caucus chair, said the reason for the shutdown was to appease Democratic voters, particularly at the No Kings rallies.

 

“It is exactly why Chuck Schumer is pandering, in this whole charade. We’ve explained from the very beginning, the shutdown is about one thing and one thing alone: Chuck Schumer’s political survival,” Johnson said.

 

The shutdown’s impact grew more severe on Monday as the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration began furloughing approximately 1,400 federal employees responsible for maintaining and modernizing the US nuclear weapons arsenal. Chris Wright, the US energy secretary, is scheduled to address the furloughs at a press conference in Las Vegas later on Monday, a spokesperson told the Guardian.

 

Though widely expected to fail again, the Senate is looking to hold another vote on Monday evening on the House-passed funding measure, marking the 11th attempt to advance the legislation. Previous votes have repeatedly failed to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a Democratic filibuster.

 

Kevin Hassett, the White House economic adviser, speculated on Monday, citing “friends in the Senate”, that the impasse might soon break.

 

“I think the [Senate minority leader Chuck] Schumer shutdown is likely to end sometime this week,” Hassett said in a CNBC interview. He reasoned that some Democrats had been reluctant to reopen the government ahead of last Saturday’s No Kings protests against Trump, which drew millions of demonstrators nationwide to rebuke corruption and authoritarianism.

 

This article was amended on 20 October 2025. A previous version said the No Kings protests drew tens of thousands of demonstrators. The actual number was in the millions.