The Next Government Shutdown Is Going To Be About Immigration

House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer offer a possible preview of the shutdown Congress avoided in October and November.

Dueling pronouncements by the leaders of the House and Senate Wednesday showed how Congress could be sleepwalking into a partial government shutdown later this month.

At a much-hyped appearance at the Texas border with Mexico, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said House Republicans wanted their entire immigration restriction bill passed, even as, back in Washington, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the Senate majority leader, said that wasn’t going to happen.

As the leaders’ first public remarks in the new year, they highlighted another emerging round of political chicken after Congress avoided possible shutdowns in October and November. In October, Democrats were willing to jettison needed military aid for Ukraine for a temporary funding bill, while in November, House Republicans coming off a bruising intraparty fight over who should be speaker, let Democrats carry a bill to fund the government.

“We want to get the border closed and secured first, and we want to make sure we reduce non-defense discretionary spending,” Johnson told reporters at a press conference in Texas.

While Johnson said there had been negotiations almost every day through holiday break, he also said in response to a separate question that House Republicans weren’t interested in seeing only portions of their immigration bill, H.R. 2, passed.