Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Wednesday that the government shutdown could “ultimately could be a benefit” to taxpayers if the Trump administration uses the opportunity to shrink the federal government in ways that Republicans “never had the votes in the Senate to do.”

His comments came in an appearance on the Moon Griffon Show, a local radio show in Johnson’s state of Louisiana, just after a press conference in which Republican congressional leaders urged Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to vote for a GOP seven-week funding stopgap and reopen the government.

Griffin referenced slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk........

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