Johnson Warns U.S. Headed Toward One of the Longest Government Shutdowns in History

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson issued a serious warning Monday as the federal government’s shutdown entered its 13th day, blaming Senate Democrats for blocking multiple attempts to fund the government and pay federal workers.

“We’re barreling toward one of the longest shutdowns in American history unless Democrats drop their partisan demands and pass a clean, no-strings-attached budget,” Johnson said during a press conference at the Capitol.

The government has been shuttered since October 1, after Democrats rejected a GOP-led continuing resolution (CR) aimed at extending fiscal year 2025 funding through November 21. Since then, Democrats in the Senate have refused to allow debate on the proposal six separate times, according to House GOP leadership.

To drive his point home, Johnson read aloud a quote from former President Barack Obama during the 2013 shutdown:

“There is one way out of this reckless and damaging Republican shutdown: Congress has to pass a budget that funds our government with no partisan strings attached.”

“That wasn’t me — that was President Obama,” Johnson said. “He was right then, and those same words apply to Democrats today.”

If the impasse continues, the current shutdown will surpass the 16-day standoff under Obama and become the third-longest in U.S. history. The record stands at 35 days during President Trump’s first term, followed by a 21-day shutdown under President Bill Clinton. The 2025 shutdown is already the fifth-longest, just behind the 1978 Carter-era shutdown.

The House-passed CR included $88 million in security funding for Congress, the judiciary, and the White House, and was otherwise stripped of most policy riders. Despite its bipartisan framework, Democrats have refused to proceed unless the package includes an extension of enhanced Obamacare subsidies from the COVID-19 pandemic era, which are set to expire at the end of the year.

Republicans argue that such policy demands have no place in a temporary stopgap meant to keep basic government operations running.

“If Democrats keep up their obstruction here today, that’s where we’re going to be headed — a historically long and damaging shutdown, driven by politics over responsibility,” Johnson said.

With no breakthrough in sight, the pressure is mounting on both chambers to either compromise or prepare for a prolonged fiscal stalemate.