Mike Johnson Pours Cold Water On Reports He Will Debate Hakeem Jeffries, Says Won’t Happen Until Gov’t Reopens

House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared to deny reports that he would debate Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries on C-SPAN during an appearance Wednesday on “America Reports.”

The federal government entered a partial shutdown at 12:01 a.m. on October 1 after the Senate failed to pass a continuing resolution, missing the 60 votes needed to overcome a Democratic filibuster after the House of Representatives passed the short-term funding bill on September 19. Sandra Smith, co-host of “America Reports,” asked Johnson about the debate, which C-SPAN announced in an emailed statement Wednesday. (RELATED: Newt Gingrich Details How Democrats Are About to Lose the Shutdown Battle)

“I will debate Hakeem Jeffries anywhere, anytime, as soon as the government is open,” Johnson responded. “He’s engaging in political theater and saying absurd things. What he just said is absurd. It was Democrats who voted to shut down the government. Look at the record: nine times now Republicans in the House and Senate have voted to reopen it, and nine times Democrats in Congress have voted to shut it down, all but one. Hakeem Jeffries has led the effort in the House.”

WATCH:

“We had this government shutdown debate in the House. We won. We passed a bill in the House and sent it to the Senate,” Johnson continued. “That’s where the ball is now, in the Senate’s court, and Schumer’s shutdown is causing real pain and must stop.”

Johnson had expressed his enthusiasm for the C-SPAN program, hosted by Politico reporter Dasha Burns, during an appearance Thursday on the “Washington Journal,” C-SPAN’s morning show, according to the network’s statement. Jeffries reportedly agreed to the joint appearance Tuesday, The Hill reported.

Democrats are demanding more than $1 trillion in funding for a variety of priorities, including maintaining increased Obamacare payments implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic and restoring funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CBP), which will close after its funding was clawed back under a rollback package passed in July, to lift the filibuster of the current resolution.

“Coming soon on CEASEFIRE from @cspan: Johnson and Jeffries,” Burns posted on X with siren emojis, while quoting a C-SPAN article about the potential debate. “That’s what our new show was designed to do…to create a rare space for opposing sides to engage.”

Coming soon @cspanCEASEFIRE:

🚨Johnson and Jeffries🚨

This is what our new show was designed to do…to create a rare space where opposing sides can engage. https://t.co/9sJ4ymJIgK

– Dasha Burns (@DashaBurns) October 15, 2025

C-SPAN did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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