Speaker Johnson's quest for regular order drifts away on Day 15 of shutdown
House Republicans are watching their seven-week stop-gap measure to fund the federal government gradually lose its utility, as Senate Democrats run out the clock on the House-passed bill and leave lawmakers at a shatterproof impasse with no end in sight.
Since passing their bill on Sept. 19, House Republicans have argued their clean continuing resolution would afford appropriators sufficient time to pass all 12 appropriations bills through regular order -- a monumental task that hasn't occurred on Capitol Hill since 1997. Johnson wants to buck the trend of backroom deals cut by the four corners of power in Congress.

"It just gives us some more time to have that negotiation. And by the way, that clock is getting sooner every day, November 21st," House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Wednesday. "That date is going to get closer every day -- where we're not going to have as much time to negotiate our differences."
The House has canceled three weeks of legislative business during the shutdown, and the speaker says he will not bring lawmakers back to Washington until the deadlock breaks.
-ABC News' John Parkinson





