JD Vance, Speaker Johnson Had ‘Productive Conversation’ over Funding, Debt Negotiations

Vice President-elect JD Vance revealed that he and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) had a “productive conversation” regarding a recently unveiled government funding bill, according to a report from Punchbowl News.

Melanie Zanona, a senior congressional reporter with Punchbowl News reported that after leaving Johnson’s office, Vance stated the two men had a “productive conversation” and they were “in the middle of negotiations” over the continuing resolution (CR), but he was hopeful about solving some of the problems standing in the way.

“VANCE says they had a ‘productive conversation’ after leaving the speaker’s office, says they’re in the middle of negotiations but thinks they’ll be able to ‘solve some problems here,’” Zanona wrote.

In a video posted to X, when asked if Vance would “support a clean” CR, Vance explained that President-elect Donald Trump believes they “should support a clean CR so long as it contains a debt ceiling increase.”

“Well, what the president believes is we should support a clean CR so long as it contains a debt ceiling increase,” Vance said. “That’s the position of the president and that’s what we’re going to try to push for.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Vance released a joint statement with Trump criticizing the CR as “a spending bill that would give sweetheart provisions for government censors and for Liz Cheney”:

The most foolish and inept thing ever done by Congressional Republicans was allowing our country to hit the debt ceiling in 2025. It was a mistake and is now something that must be addressed.

Meanwhile, Congress is considering a spending bill that would give sweetheart provisions for government censors for Liz Cheney. The bill would make it easier to hide the records of the corrupt January 6 committee—which accomplished nothing for the American people and hid security failures that happened that day. This bill would also give Congress a pay increase while many Americans are struggling this Christmas.

Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch. If Democrats won’t cooperate on the debt ceiling now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration? Let’s have this debate now. And we should pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want.

Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025. The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country.

Controversial items in the CR include “a one-year extension of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC), which contributes to conservative censorship as it effectively funds organizations that censor conservative media.”

The CR also “strips a provision included in spending bills since 2009 to block automatic raises for Congress, effectively giving senators and House members a raise.”

In response to the CR, lawmakers such as Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) have stated that the bill “full of pork” shows that Johnson is a “weak, weak man.”