House Speaker Mike Johnson pushed back against Democratic criticism that the GOP's funding measure tied to former President Trump is a "dirty bill," saying such disputes belong in the appropriations process.
"They don't have a point," Johnson said, arguing the correct time to haggle over policy riders is during appropriations. He described the current bill as a stopgap intended to buy Congress time to complete normal funding negotiations.
Johnson emphasized Republicans deliberately avoided packing the measure with controversial provisions. "We could have loaded it up with riders and policy changes, but we didn't," he said, asserting his conference acted in good faith.
The speaker called for bipartisan cooperation so appropriators can debate and resolve policy differences through the usual channels. He accused Democrats of blocking that path by refusing to engage with the process.
Johnson framed the dispute as a procedural disagreement rather than a substantive complaint about the bill's contents, urging lawmakers to let appropriators handle the detailed negotiations.