House Speaker Mike Johnson has paused all scheduled legislative votes and sent the chamber into recess as the government funding crisis marks nearly four weeks. The impasse began after the House passed a stopgap funding proposal on September 19 that the Senate has yet to take up. Johnson is using the downtime as leverage, insisting no further work will be done in the House until Senate Democrats accept the GOP-crafted resolution.
Republicans in the House support this tactic, asserting they’ve done their part by approving the funding measure; they blame Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and his caucus for dragging their feet. Meanwhile, Democrats argue the shutdown is being prolonged intentionally and point to stalled talks over key issues such as health-insurance subsidy extensions as evidence.
With active-duty military personnel and federal employees facing their first missed paychecks of the funding gap, the stakes of the stand-off continue to rise.