WASHINGTON — With 27 days left for congressional lawmakers to agree on a spending bill to avert a federal government shutdown, House Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday that the appropriations package needs to cut more spending.

Citing the $37 trillion federal deficit, Johnson said the $1.6 trillion in cuts enacted through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July is “not enough.”

“We have to continue to spend more responsibly,” Johnson, R-La., said during the first House GOP news conference since Congress' monthlong summer recess. “If the government shuts down, it’ll be because congressional Democrats rejected commonsense solutions to fund the government and instead caved to their far-left base.”

He encouraged House Democrats to work with the GOP majority “and think responsibly about how

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