A (3:42)

Well, I know your position on that. And you know, we hear about the Schumer shutdown a lot around here. Tom Emmer was with us just a couple of days ago, making the point. And we've heard this over the past couple of weeks. But what happens if Chuck Schumer doesn't come around for you? What happens if weeks go by, if members of the military are not being paid? Are there off ramps here for you, Mr. Speaker? Will you start reaching out directly to Democrats? Do we need another meeting in the Oval Office?

B (4:08)

Look, I am a good faith operator. I am a negotiator. I like to find common ground. Here's the problem. Because we were operating in good faith and doing the most basic, simple thing, I mean, the bare minimum piece of legislation to keep the lights on. I literally don't have anything to negotiate on the cr. I can't go into that document and say, oh, let me, let me pull off these Republican priorities and see if we can get some more Democrats to vote on it. I don't have anything to pull off of it. I sent over a clean continuing resolution and by the way, very important. It continues Biden era policies and spending which, which we conservatives don't like. We're trying to change that, but we need the appropriations process to finish it. All we needed was seven more weeks on the clock to finish the process. And the Republicans and Democrats who are appropriators are the ones that decided that date and decided it should be clean. And everything was going smoothly until Chuck Schumer decided to blow it up. Is he going to fold? I don't know. But I'll tell you what needs to happen. Some other Senate Democrats need to come to their senses and realize they should not be blamed for the pain that's being inflicted on the people. Make it stop as soon as possible. Do the right thing and join your Republican colleagues in open and the government back up.

A (5:12)

That's why I ask if you're reaching out to some of the Democratic senators. Mr. Speaker, have you talked to Chuck Schumer since your Oval Office meeting?

B (5:20)

No, not since the Oval Office meeting. But I tell you what, the president made an impassioned plea while we were there to please not do this. Please don't shut the government down, Chuck. And he was burned. And Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries walked out defiantly. You know, they wanted to pick this fight. It's very clear. The question everybody's asking is how long. October 15th, troops begin to lose a real paycheck. And you've got TSA agents and Border Patrol agents and all these people sacrificing their own safety to protect everyone else and they won't be paid. You've got nutrition programs and health services and FEMA services and all sorts of other things stalled. And half the, half the civilian workforce of the federal government is now furloughed. This is dangerous stuff. Real people are being hurt. Air traffic controllers are falling back on their job because they don't have enough personnel. This is serious stuff and we need the Democrats to come to their senses and do the right thing.

A (6:11)

Well, of course there's a threat of mass layoffs coming from the president. He said maybe four or five days he would make a decision on that. But there's also been a conversation. I heard you speaking earlier in your briefing about back pay for federal workers who have been furloughed. There's of course a law in the books around furloughed workers getting back bay today. And I know that you have been speaking to the letter of the law. The president yesterday, yesterday said though that there are some federal workers who do not deserve the quote was to be taken care of. Is this issue the purview of Congress? Do you plan to follow this law or is this somehow up to Russ vote now?

B (6:47)

Well, look, there's, there's different legal analyses that are floating around right now and I've been so busy with this, I haven't had a chance to dig into it. I am a lawyer. I'm looking forward to reading through that because I kind of get into all the scholarship side of this. It has always been my understanding that the law requires furloughed workers to be to receive back pay. And of course that's been the tradition. And I'm not sure exactly what the president is referring to there. I haven't had a chance to talk to him about that specific issue yet. But we will you this though the view of the White House, the view of the president himself, is that he doesn't want federal workers to be used as pawns. Here we've got some great patriotic Americans who work for our agencies and provide essential services to the people. They should not suffer the harms of people who want to play political games. And I think this really important principle for us to advance.

A (7:31)

Do you worry about mass layoffs coming as early as next week and that actually poisoning the well even more between Republicans and Democrats? What would be the impact of a move like that?

B (7:41)

Well, look, I'm worried about all sorts of adverse effects because of how it affects the American people. We had some analysis today that every week that the Democrat shutdown continues, we could lose $15 billion in gross domestic product. I mean, it's a real hit for real people and it has a reverberating effect. And if you keep it closed for a month, then one of the estimates I saw today is you lose 43,000 civilian employees. You know, because it has a ripple effect throughout the economy. We can't afford to do that. Right. Things were going in the right direction and this is a terrible setback for the country. It also has implications for national security. I mean, you look at things like nuclear Deterrence. Those programs are stalled right now. Right. And every day you do that, it has real world consequences for us, not a game. And we need to end it right now.

A (8:28)

I know that you've said to House Republicans, at least reportedly, that you would give them 48 hours notice if they had to come back into town when folks left following the vote on the CR in the House, if they're talking next door in the Senate, if some sort of deal is brokered that might alter the CR as it stands now, do you plan to call your members back?

B (8:49)

Look, the devil's in the details, but I don't know how they could possibly alter it. We made it so simple. There again, there is nothing to take off of that. It is virtually identical to what Chuck Schumer himself championed in March of this year. And so we're not going to strap on extraneous policy issues and all of that. That would take a long time because the government's now closed down. They need to pass the clean, turn the lights back on and get everybody back to work. I'm just so frustrated with the nonsense around this. And I think more and more people at home are as well. I saw a Rasmussen poll that came out a couple of hours ago. 49% of the American people were polled, said the Democrats did this to give benefits to illegal aliens. They are not wrong. $200 billion in their counter proposal would pay illegal aliens the benefits that hard working American taxpayers provide. We're not doing that. We're not going to add a trillion and a half new dollars to spending. We're not taking Chuck Schum ridiculous counterproposal. We're going to do the right thing for the people and the Republicans are on the job to do it.

A (9:48)

I know you had a couple of visitors at your office today, Mr. Speaker. A couple of Democratic senators. I believe Kelly and Gallego had a lot of things to say about the swearing in of a new member of Congress from Arizona. I also saw Congressman Mike Lawler from New York get into an altercation with Hakeem Jeffries as he was coming out of his office here. I know that elbows can be sharp on Capitol Hill, but Mr. Speaker, what's happened to decorum? Is this a new low?

B (10:17)

Look, I work on decorum around here all the time. Everybody knows that's my record. I started it. When I came to Washington in January 2017, I authored the Honor and Civility Caucus pledge and the Commitment to Civility. I mean, we have to maintain this. There are fights about policy, but it shouldn't be personal. I try to model that myself. I try to, you know, encourage colleagues to do it. But I would tell you the tension here is very high because it's high because the stakes are so high. And you got real Americans, real constituents back home who are really suffering because of the nonsense. And it gets our. Gets us upset here sometimes. You know, I understand that emotion. We've got to keep it in check. We got to get everybody working together. We've got to get the lights back on.

A (10:56)

I want to ask you about that new member, Grijalva, the congresswoman elect from Arizona. The senators were asking you to swear her in, or I guess they were urging you to swear her in, which I know you've done a couple of times for Republican members in pro forma sessions. These two senators were yelling about Jeffrey Epstein, I think, to make a point here, and they did get some coverage on that. Mr. Speaker, is this an Epstein issue or is this a process issue?

B (11:20)

They're masters at distraction. And go back and watch the video of Senator Ruben Gallego. These are the two Democrat senators from Arizona, Mark Kelly and Gallego. And they're voting to keep the government closed. I told them, if you want to get your House colleague from your state, take the oath of office, then open the government so we get back to regular session. They claim everything's about Epstein. It's a joke. Master's a distraction. We did. This is a long standing tradition in the Congress. When you administer the oath after a special election, you do it the first time that the Congress is back in session after that. We did change that, modify it earlier this year on one occasion we had two Floridians who came in on the same special election. But it was a very different set of circumstances. I explained to them very quickly. We had a scheduled date for the office ceremony. The House went out of session unexpectedly. They already had their family and friends here and it was already prearranged. So we just went ahead and went through the motion. We're going to Rep. Elect Grahava will be sworn in as soon as we get back to regular session. She never had a scheduled date because she got elected after the House went out of session. This is real simple. We're going to do that as soon as we get back. But they are in charge of turning the lights on so Congress can get back to work.

A (12:30)

Well, I appreciate your answering that for us, Mr. Speaker. Lastly, if you were to join me, say next Wednesday, would we be having the same conversation about a shutdown?

B (12:39)

I am on my knees praying that we would not be. We have got to get the government operating again. It's the most basic function of the federal government is to serve the people, keep the people safe and keep the lights on. And we need the Democrats over here to see the light and do that.

A (12:54)

We appreciate the conversation. House Speaker Mike Johnson, thank you. You're always welcome. On Bloomberg TV and radio there are two kinds of people in the world, people who think about climate change and people who are doing something about. On the Zero podcast we talk to both kinds of people. People you've heard of like Bill Gates. I'm looking at what the world has to do to get to zero, not using climate as a moral crusade and the creative minds you haven't heard of yet. It is serious stuff but never doom and gloom. I am Akshat Ratty Listen to Zero every Thursday from Bloomberg podcasts on Apple, Spotify or anywhere else you get your podcasts.