"House Speaker Mike Johnson's Plan to Avoid Shutdown and Overhaul Civil Service"
Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., has been elected as the new Speaker of the House. While he has a history of proposing civil service reforms and engaging in shutdown politics, he has indicated a willingness to avoid a government shutdown by supporting a continuing resolution through either January 15 or April 15. Johnson has also advocated for changes to the federal workforce, including ending expanded remote work, reducing the time to fire federal workers, and eliminating near-automatic step increases. He has previously led efforts to overturn President Biden's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal employees and contractors. Johnson aims to pass all 12 annual appropriations bills by November 17 but is open to a short-term funding measure to prevent a Christmas omnibus and a potential sequestration in April.