Leavitt Slams ‘Obstructionists’ Amid Government Funding Fight

The White House is adamant about making sure a government shutdown is averted, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Townhall on Thursday during a press briefing. 

As the fiscal year closes at the end of September, Washington, D.C. already has its eyes on what comes next to keep the federal government’s lights on, especially as there was a lengthy shutdown last year.

“The White House’s stance is that the government needs to be funded. This president and Republicans on Capitol Hill from both chambers as you just mentioned the House and the Senate Republicans want to keep the government open,” Leavitt said Thursday. 

“We want to work together to find ways to do that and the White House will continue will continue to have discussions with Senate leadership on the best path forward,” she added.

“I don’t want to get ahead of those conversations, but the most important thing for the American people to know is that this president and this White House wants the government to remain open, unlike the Democrats in this town who have been acting as obstructionists,” Leavitt continued.

In the House, Speaker Mike Johnson touted the passage of a continuing resolution to fund the government through December earlier this week, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune floated wanting to work with Democrats in order to achieve a bipartisan consensus on a stopgap proposal to fund the government.

“House Republicans today took the responsible step of passing a clean, short-term continuing resolution to fund our government through the November elections,” Johnson posted to X on Tuesday. “Sadly, and predictably, 204 House Democrats voted against this measure.”

Thune has also floated possibly holding “Reconciliation 3.0” efforts in case in needs to be used as a backup to fund the government, according to Punchbowl News. Reconciliation only needs a simple majority to pass rather than the standard two-thirds required for most legislation in the Senate. 

“House and Senate Rs are on the same page on govt funding – on length, desire for clean CR, & motivation to complete our work before the deadline,” Thune spokesperson Ryan Wrasse posted to X on Wednesday, arguing that reports of a split between Thune and Johnson are overhyped.

“It’s simply a matter of adding the anomalies that the WH has requested. Bipartisan effort underway to accomplish all of these things,” Wrasse added.

Regardless, House Democratic leadership slammed the House-approved CR, calling it “a premature and desperate attempt by Republicans to abdicate their responsibility to govern while there are still several months left to negotiate a bipartisan agreement,” Townhall previously reported.

As for “Reconciliation 3.0,” it includes significant amounts of funding for the United States military, and it includes key elements of the “SAVE America Act” – the top legislative priority for President Donald Trump.

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