House Speaker Mike Johnson calls for ‘old-school’ House-Senate conference for spending negotiations

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday laid out his key demand for government funding negotiations: Spend less.

Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, said he would like Congress to hold an “old-school” conference committee negotiation to resolve their disagreements over three spending bills, even if they have to rely on a temporary stopgap.

There’s a general consensus that a bipartisan, bicameral conference committee would be a good way to negotiate, but there’s not a lot of time before the Sept. 30 government funding deadline. Disagreements about spending have already emerged.

One tension point is on the duration of a stopgap measure for the bills lawmakers need more time to negotiate. Top appropriators prefer the stopgap, known as a continuing resolution to last until mid-November, while the White House has suggested it run through the end of January. 

A larger dispute is on how much to spend in fiscal 2026. Mr. Johnson wants Congress to cut discretionary spending from the $1.6 trillion approved for fiscal 2025.

“We just have to think responsibly how to spend less money than we did last year,” he said. “And if [Democrats] are willing to do that — and it’s incumbent upon all of us to do it with the high national debt — we’re open to that.”

Democrats did not respond directly to Mr. Johnson’s comment. They said, however, that they are focused on preventing some of the spending cuts House Republicans and the Trump administration have proposed.

“Work with us on bills that actually help people. Work with us on bills that reject the catastrophic cuts Trump wants and that protect child care investments and fund cancer research and invest in our public schools,” said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee.

Congress must act on spending legislation by the end of the month to prevent a government shutdown. Mr. Johnson is trying to avoid a straight stopgap extension of current discretionary spending levels, which total $1.6 trillion across the 12 annual appropriations bills.

While Mr. Johnson referred to Democrats’ willingness to spend less, he will have to contend with a contingent of Senate Republicans that want to increase some spending, particularly on defense.

House and Senate appropriators have proposed annual spending bills with different funding levels.

The top four appropriators met Monday night and discussed the idea of a conference negotiation on three of the appropriations bills, the ones funding the departments of Veterans Affairs and Agriculture and the legislative branch.

They want to pair the final negotiated versions of those three bills with a short-term stopgap measure continuing current government funding levels for the remaining nine annual appropriations bills until they can negotiate those, too.

Ms. Murray advocated for that approach at a press conference Tuesday with Senate Democratic leader Charles E. Schumer of New York, but they slammed GOP leaders for not facilitating bipartisan negotiations.

“We’ve heard nothing, crickets,” Mr. Schumer said of a meeting he and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York requested with Mr. Johnson and Senate Republican Leader John Thune of South Dakota.

Mr. Johnson has spoken to Mr. Jeffries, but the four leaders have yet to get in a room together for a broader negotiation that could set parameters for appropriators to follow.

When it comes to the three bills appropriators want to negotiate before the end of September, the chambers are closest in the amount they want to spend on veterans and military construction funding.

The Senate-passed bill would provide $153.5 billion, while the House-passed bill would provide $152.1 billion. Both are increases over the $146.5 billion enacted level for fiscal 2025.

The Senate-proposed spending exceeds fiscal 2025’s levels on the other two bills, while the House proposed cuts. The Senate has passed the agriculture and legislative branch spending bills on the floor, while the House has only advanced its versions out of committee.

The fiscal 2025 enacted level for the Agriculture Department and related agencies was $26.6 billion. For fiscal 2026, the Senate proposed a half-billion-dollar increase to $27.1 billion, and the House proposed a $1 billion cut to $25.5 billion.

The Senate is also seeking an increase in the legislative branch funding for Congress and its related entities from $6.7 billion in fiscal 2025 to $7.1 billion in fiscal 2026. The House, meanwhile, proposed a slight cut of $51 million.