Mike Johnson says Senate interruption in government shutdown impasse is ‘long overdue’

EXCLUSIVE: Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is happy that the Senate finally managed to break the weeks-long impasse over the government shutdown, he told Fox News Digital Monday morning.

“This is a tremendous development. It is long overdue. It confirms our position on this issue from the beginning,” said the parliamentary leader.

He added that he would have “much more to say at a press conference this morning.”

Asked how soon the House would return to session, Johnson replied: “Immediately.”

THE CAVE OF SENATE DEMOCRATS, AN OPEN PATH TO THE REOPENING OF GOVERNMENT

House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on the 10th day of the federal government shutdown in Washington, October 10, 2025. (Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty Images)

“We’re going to call everyone back with 36 hours’ notice, so that will be at the beginning of the week,” Johnson said.

The House has not been in session since September 19, when lawmakers first passed a bill aimed at avoiding a shutdown by extending current federal funding levels until November 21. Democrats, however, rejected that deal, kicking off weeks of deepening standoff where millions of Americans on federal benefits and air travel have been threatened.

Eight Senate Democrats joined all but one Senate Republican in breaking a filibuster to advance an updated government funding deal late Sunday night.

EIGHT SENATE DEMOCRATS BREAK RANKS WITH PARTY LEADERSHIP TO END HISTORIC GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

This came on the 40th day of the government shutdown – which already holds the record for the longest shutdown in US history.

Terms of the deal include a further extension of federal funding levels for fiscal 2025 through Jan. 30, to give congressional negotiators more time to reach a longer-term agreement on fiscal 2026 spending.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune speaks during a press conference with other members of the Senate Republican leadership following a policy luncheon in Washington, DC, October 28, 2025. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

It would also allow lawmakers to make progress on this mission, advancing legislation to fund the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration; the Ministry of Veterans Affairs and Military Construction; and the legislative power.

These are three of 12 individual bills intended to make up Congress’ annual appropriations, packaged into a vehicle called a “minibus.”

In a victory for Democrats, the deal would also reverse federal layoffs carried out by the Trump administration in October, with workers paid for the time they were furloughed.

It also guarantees Senate Democrats a vote on legislation extending Obamacare subsidies that were boosted during the COVID-19 pandemic, and which are set to expire at the end of this year.

Expanding enhanced subsidies for Obamacare, officially called the Affordable Care Act (ACA), was a key demand from Democrats during the weeks-long standoff.

However, no such guarantee was given in the House, so Democrats effectively gave up on their primary demand in order to end the shutdown — a move that infuriated congressional progressives.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont, during a press conference at the United States Capitol in Washington, DC, Wednesday, November 5, 2025. (Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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“Tonight, eight Democrats voted with Republicans to allow them to move forward on this continuing resolution,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said in a video he released Sunday evening. “And in my opinion, it was a very, very bad vote.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., also announced his opposition to the lack of concrete movement on Obamacare.

“We will not support spending legislation advanced by Senate Republicans that fails to expand the Affordable Care Act tax credits,” he said in a statement.

Several Republicans also stressed that the final deal was no different from what Senate Republican leaders had been proposing to Democrats for weeks.