Mike Johnson Pours Cold Water On Reports He Will Debate Hakeem Jeffries, Says Won’t Happen Until Gov’t Reopens

House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared to deny reports he would debate Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries on C-SPAN during a Wednesday appearance on “America Reports.”

The federal government entered a partial shutdown at 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 1 after the Senate failed to pass a continuing resolution, falling short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a Democratic filibuster after the House of Representatives passed the short-term funding bill on Sept. 19. “America Reports” co-host Sandra Smith asked Johnson about the debate, which C-SPAN announced in a Wednesday release sent via email.

“I will debate Hakeem Jeffries anywhere, any time, as soon as we get the government open,” Johnson responded. “He’s engaging in political theater and stating absurd things. What he just said is absurd. It is the Democrats who voted to shut the government down. Look at the record: Nine times now, the Republicans in the House and Senate have voted to open it, and nine times Democrats in Congress voted to close it, all but one. Hakeem Jeffries led the effort in the House.”

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“We had this debate on the government shutting down, on the House floor. We won. We passed a bill in the House, sent it to the Senate,” Johnson continued. “That’s where the ball is now, in the Senate’s court, and the Schumer shutdown is causing real pain and needs to stop.”

Johnson had expressed excitement about the C-SPAN program, hosted by Politico reporter Dasha Burns, during a Thursday appearance on “Washington Journal,” C-SPAN’s morning show, according to the network’s release. Jeffries reportedly agreed to the joint appearance Tuesday, The Hill reported.

Democrats are demanding over $1 trillion in funding for various priorities, including continuing enhanced payouts for Obamacare enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic and restoring funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CBP), which will shut down after its funding was clawed back in a rescissions package passed in July, to lift a filibuster of the continuing resolution.

“Coming soon on @cspan’s CEASEFIRE: Johnson and Jeffries,” Burns posted on X with siren emojis, while quoting a C-SPAN post about the potential debate. “It’s what our new show was made for…creating a rare space for opposing sides to engage.”

C-SPAN did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the 🏢Daily Caller News Foundation.

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