This week, House Speaker Mike Johnson’s two-step proposal to keep the government running beyond November 17 will meet a key challenge on the House floor, a vital moment for the new speaker who has four days to avoid a government shutdown.
A member said Johnson told his leadership team on Monday night that he sees “a path” to pass and sign his government funding package, despite several Republicans opposing the bill and procedural vote. The member also told lawmakers that he believes House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Schumer, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell support his idea.
Johnson will likely require Democratic votes to pass the bill by the Friday deadline after conservatives promptly criticized his idea on social media and threatened to vote against it.
“The short-term funding proposal includes a 1-year Farm Bill extension without reform, status quo policies, and funding levels. As politely as possible, disappointing. Ohio Republican Rep. Warren Davidson said he would vote no. “Hopefully, the consensus will result in a more reasonable bill.”
The bill was also criticized by conservatives including House Freedom Caucus leader Chip Roy.
I strongly oppose the Speaker’s clean CR to the House GOP. Funding Pelosi-level spending and policies for 75 days for future ‘promises’” he tweeted Saturday.
Johnson’s first major bill may never pass the House because Democrats are undecided on whether to support it.
Last week, many called the two-step plan untidy and unnecessary. Multiple members told CNN that lawmakers are open-minded because the measure does not slash spending sharply, a red line.
Johnson’s spending plan would support military, Veterans Affairs, transportation, housing and urban development, energy, and water departments through mid-January. On February 2, funding for the remaining government departments expired again.
Many Democrats have called it a gimmick, but they recognise that time is limited, and Congress is divided.
“We are going to proceed in the Senate on a clean CR, without gimmicks, without ladders,” Sen. Chris Murphy told “Meet the Press.” I’m concerned that the House process compels you to deal with half the budget on one day and half on another. That seems like a prescription for disaster. I’ll listen to their case, but I’d rather do what the Senate is doing and support a (continuing resolution) that keeps the government open to the same date.”
CNN sources said Democrats are waiting to see how Johnson manages his conference.
On Monday, Schumer said Johnson’s bill is “moving in our direction” by not cutting spending and delaying the defence funding measure to February’s second deadline.
“The speaker’s proposal is far from perfect, but the most important thing is that it avoids steep cuts and extends defence funding in February, not January,” he said.
Johnson will first have to pass a rule vote for the spending bill. The ruling party usually passes it, but conservatives under former Speaker Kevin McCarthy often voted down GOP rules to make their point.
It is unclear if they will allow Johnson more freedom to manoeuvre or if their resistance to the regulation would force him to try to suspend the rules, which would require a two-thirds majority.
McCarthy lost his position after suspending the rules to approve the latest short-term spending bill.
Johnson tried to convince his members in a private call Saturday that the conference had lost critical time during a three-week speaker’s race to pass individual spending bills and that a two-part short-term spending bill would give Republicans maximum leverage in negotiations over year-long spending bills next year.
Johnson also warned members that if Senate Democrats rejected his plan, he would propose a year-long budget measure with non-defense programme cuts, which Democrats would never support.
As under McCarthy, House Republicans have struggled to agree on spending this week. GOP infighting forced the withdrawal of two year-long spending proposals for transportation, housing, financial services, and general government last week. Democrats say that shows Republicans lack leverage in this fight.
“By adopting the Freedom Caucus’s extreme ‘laddered CR’ approach, Speaker Johnson is setting up a system that will double the number of shutdown showdowns,” House Appropriations Committee top Democrat Rosa DeLauro said Sunday.
As they showed last week when they wasted time debating two horrible spending measures and had to remove them from the floor to avoid failing on final passage, House Republicans cannot accomplish their radical agenda, DeLauro added.
“We are no closer to a full-year funding agreement than in September. Congress must avert a shutdown and pass a CR to pass full-year budget bills and emergency aid quickly.
The White House called Johnson’s proposal “unserious” over the weekend, while congressional Democrats continue to hold their fire.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre termed Republicans’ two-step CR proposal “very much untested,” but said the administration was “in close contact with Democrats in both the House and the Senate” over negotiations on Monday.
Jean-Pierre declined to say if Biden would veto the idea, citing reporters to Biden’s Monday statements that he would “wait and see what they come up with,” in Congress.
The White House has not issued a declaration of administration policy on the bill, which would indicate whether President Joe Biden will sign or veto it if it passes both chambers. Although the White House opposes this two-pronged bill, his signature is uncertain.
The two-step continuing agreement does not include funds for Israel or Ukraine, which the White House believes is vital.