US government shutdown would end this Tuesday

Washington. The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, said yesterday that he believes he hopes to have the Republican votes necessary to end the partial government shutdown this Tuesday.

“I’m sure we will achieve it. We have the logistical challenge of bringing everyone together in the city,” he said in an interview with NBC.

In another interview, Johnson said he is relying on President Donald Trump’s help to secure passage of a funding package.

The United States entered what is expected to be a brief federal government shutdown on Saturday after Congress failed to approve an agreement to maintain funding for a wide range of operations.

Trump reached a deal with senators to separate Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding from a broader package amid public outrage over two murders committed during protests in Minneapolis against Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The package includes five funding bills to cover most federal agencies through September.

However, House Democrats are demanding changes to the way DHS conducts its immigration raids – with heavily armed, masked and unidentified officers sometimes detaining people without warrants – before voting on the spending package.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York told ABC: “What is clear is that the Department of Homeland Security needs drastic reform.”

Additionally, a growing number of lawmakers are calling for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to be fired or removed.

This is the second time in months that federal operations have been disrupted as Congress digs in, using the annual funding process as leverage to achieve policy change.