Johnson Scrambles for Votes as Shutdown Looms (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Speaker Mike Johnson has virtually no margin for error in order to pass a bill and reopen the federal government as soon as Tuesday. Why? Because House Democrats say they are not going to cooperate at all. They have their own concerns about a deal that was cut in the Senate to try to keep the government open. That deal was cut by the Democratic leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, along with President Trump. They were not part of that deal. So Akeem Jeffries has told the Speaker, get the votes on GOP support alone.

[00:00:30] Speaker 2: You had a three-seat majority that, as of this evening, will be a two-seat majority, the narrowest one since 1930. But here's the problem.

[00:00:39] Speaker 1: The House is narrowly divided. Mike Johnson can only afford to lose one Republican vote on any party-line vote. Several conservative members are threatening to vote against this, which is why President Trump has been on the phone with individual Republican members, pressuring them to fall in line ahead of a key vote on Tuesday, a procedural motion that must be adopted first before the bill can come to the floor. That is going to be the big question. Can Trump and Johnson get Republicans to fall in line? If not, the government could be shut down much longer. Democrats, who are pushing to rein in ICE, will have many more demands for the Speaker to meet in order to vote yes to reopen the government.

[00:01:17] Speaker 2: We'll demonstrate that and we'll push forward our priorities on the integrity of elections. So we can do all that simultaneously. We will. But we're going to get this job done, get the government reopened.