For Mike Johnson, not showing up is the entire battle.
The speaker made clear Thursday — eight days into the government shutdown — he is committed to keeping the House out of session as long as it takes to pressure Senate Democrats to act on the stopgap funding bill his chamber passed three weeks ago.
Johnson is holding firm on the indefinite recess strategy even as pressure mounts inside his own conference to bring members back to Washington, with more and more GOP lawmakers prodding him to change course.
“There is absolutely no reason for the House to be out of session — it’s embarrassing,” Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) said in an interview. “The government is shut down, Americans are losing access to critical services, workers are being furloughed, and the House isn’t even in Washington.”
