Journalism of Courage
US House Speaker Mike Johnson on Monday rejected Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ demand for the two to have a televised debate on the government shutdown. Johnson dismissed Jeffries’ challenge as “theatrics.”
“We passed the bill in bipartisan fashion and sent it over to the Senate. The House has done its job,” Johnson said, referring to the government funding bill that passed by the House but failed in the Senate, leading to the shutdown.
Earlier, Jeffries had written to Johnson proposing a prime-time debate on the government shutdown. “I write to challenge you to a debate on the Floor of the House of Representatives any day this week in primetime, broadcast live to the American people,” he said in the letter.
As the impasse continues, Johnson also spoke to Patty Murray, the top Democrat in the Senate and assured him about facilitating bipartisan, bicameral negotiations on government funding bills, once the shutdown ends.
“I told her, it is my full intention that if we break this impasse and we put these bills together — we have three of them in conference committee right now — whatever the conference committee comes up with, I will put on the floor,” Johnson said.
Meanwhile, as the government shutdown continues, reports say that a food aid programme that helps more than 6 million low-income mothers and young children could run out of federal money within two weeks.
The $8 billion Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, also known as WIC, provides vouchers to buy infant formula as well as fresh fruits and vegetables, low-fat milk and other healthy staples that are often out of financial reach for low-income households. The shutdown, which began Wednesday, coincided with the beginning of a new fiscal year, meaning programmes like WIC, which rely on annual infusions from the federal government, are nearly out of money.
Currently, the programme is being kept afloat by a $150 million contingency fund, but experts say it could run dry quickly. After that, states could step in to pay for the programme and seek reimbursement when a budget finally passes, but not all states say they can afford to do so.
Some Republican lawmakers want to cut WIC, which is targeted for elimination in Project 2025, the influential policy blueprint authored by Russell Vought, who’s now President Donald Trump’s budget chief. Trump’s budget request and the spending plan backed by House Republicans would not fully fund the program. They also want to cut funding for families to buy fresh fruits and vegetables.
Another programme that could be hit soon due to the government shutdown is the subsidy for commercial air service to rural airports, which is set to expire as soon as Sunday.
The US Transportation Department said the subsidies in the Essential Air Service programme are expected to expire as soon as Sunday (October 12) after the department transferred unrelated funding from the FAA as an advance. The department is in the process of notifying carriers of the shortfall and alerting communities of the potential impacts.
