House Speaker Mike Johnson revealed to the Daily Mail that a temporary government shutdown is likely due to a funding gap.
Although Congress reached an agreement this week on a continuing resolution, Johnson, a Republican representing Louisiana, explained that procedural delays might extend beyond the funding deadline, which is set to expire at midnight on Saturday morning.
“We need to ensure the government keeps running—there might be a brief shutdown, but once House members return, we’ll promptly resume our work,” Johnson remarked to the Daily Mail during the premiere of “Melania: Twenty Days to History” on Thursday, January 29.
This disclosure follows the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, which spanned 43 days from October 1 to November 12.
Johnson noted that he spent three and a half hours on Wednesday in a meeting at the Oval Office with President Donald Trump, aiming to prevent a funding lapse.
During their discussion, Johnson and Trump were in contact with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, and White House “border czar” Tom Homan to negotiate the “contours of this” agreement.
He said Congress would ‘have that on a continuing resolution for some time,’ but admitted it would be impossible to reconcile before a shutdown triggers overnight Friday to Saturday.
And with continued winter weather and hazardous travel conditions in Washington, DC, further delays could ensure in getting members back to the Capitol to vote on a continuing resolution.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told the Daily Mail at the carpet for the premiere of First Lady Melania Trump’s movie on January 29, 2026 that there will be a shot government shutdown while the House passes reconciliation with the Senate bill
It comes as Democrats, and some Republicans, fought over funding for Homeland Security, and specifically ICE amid the continuing violent and deadly clashes in Minneapolis
Winter weather could make a ‘short shutdown’ last longer-than-anticipated if lawmakers can’t get back to Washington, DC to vote on a continuing resolution package
Notably, this is not a full-fledged budget and only kicks the can down the road for another deal to be struck, which is likely to be in the form of another short-term funding bill.
Lawmakers this month began arguing over funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) amid violent clashes that turned deadly in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Agents within ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), both agencies at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), were responsible for the shooting and killing of two American citizens this month – Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Democrats, and some Republicans, objected to passing a bill that included funding for DHS – and specifically ICE – without adding some ‘common sense’ changes to address what they called unaccountable enforcement.
The Senate convened at 11:00 AM on Friday and there is activity scheduled related to advancing a revised funding package on the so-called ‘minibus,’ which bundles funding for DHS and the Departments of War, State, Transportation, HUD, Labor and HHS.
Lawmakers are still going over the changes on Friday and Johnson would like to get a vote scheduled in the House as soon as next week, if possible.
‘I mean, this just developed as I was walking in, so I haven’t seen the details,’ Johnson told the Daily Mail on Thursday evening.
‘But what we expected they would do is break away the five funding bills from the Homeland bill, the Department of Homeland Security, and that we’d have that on a continuing resolution for some time.’
It’s unclear when the CR would expire and when Congress would need to pass another bill to keep the government open and funded.
