Happening Now: Johnson, GOP Leadership Hold Shutdown Press Conference

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will hold his weekly press conference with GOP leadership on Tuesday morning, marking two weeks of the government shutdown.

Johnson, who has spoken to reporters almost every day despite sending his colleagues home during the shutdown, warned on Monday that the standoff with Democrats was far from over.

“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 to reopen the government and pay our federal workers,” Johnson said in a press conference.

The speaker has refused to negotiate over Democratic demands to extend ObamaCare tax credits. Without congressional action, millions of consumers who purchase insurance through the American Care Act marketplace will see their premiums double next year, according to KFF.

The Trump administration started mass firings of federal employees last week, an extraordinary move meant to ramp up pressure on Democrats to reopen the government.

The press conference is scheduled to start at 10 a.m.