GOP squabbles while shutdown threat looms

With just days left before Friday's government funding deadline, a dispute within House Republicans over a top-line spending deal and conflicting strategies over how to approach a stopgap bill could lead to a partial government shutdown in Washington. There is a risk of falling.

Such a prospect would be a significant setback for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana). The House speaker is juggling warring factions within his party as he seeks to seal his first major legislative deal as speaker.

Prime Minister Johnson on Friday said the most important spending deal he struck with Democrats and the White House “stands,” after enduring several days of fierce backlash from conservative hardliners, on efforts to fund the government. There were some signs of relief, but it was a victory for Republicans and expropriators in battleground states who had been urging Johnson to abide by the bipartisan agreement.

But even though Johnson stuck to the deal, House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good (R-Va.) said he was still “legitimately considering alternatives.” He claimed to believe it.

Nevertheless, Congress first needs to pass a stopgap bill by Friday to buy time to complete more than a dozen spending bills, appropriators from both parties say. Questions about how the bill will be implemented and how long it will last have moved to the forefront of debate between hard-line conservatives and moderates.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in November that he would not support any more short-term stopgap measures, and he has not said whether he would support a continuing resolution this time around. But the chairman was asked last week about the possibility of a stopgap and said he was not ruling anything out.

Political storms aren't the only thing complicating the path to avoiding closure. cross country winter weather A long weekend and into this week could change travel plans for lawmakers trying to get back to Washington before the funding deadline, a reality that could complicate Republican-only efforts in a razor-thin House majority. is.

Hardliners have asked the Louisiana Republican Party to issue a long-term deal, potentially through the remainder of the 2024 fiscal year in September, as part of a push for Mr. Johnson to renegotiate spending levels and secure conservative policy priorities. We are calling for a continuing resolution to be passed. The 1% across-the-board reduction was included in the debt limit agreement that then-Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) reached with President Biden last year.

The threat of cuts could give Republicans leverage to secure concessions such as changes to border policy, advocates of long-term stopgap measures argue.

“That creates the incentive for us to actually do the work that we need to do,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said earlier in the week.

But that patch has hit a roadblock.

During an Oval Office meeting Friday morning, Mr. Johnson asked a group of moderate Republicans if they could support a year-round continuance resolution, and nearly all of them said no, one attendee said. The official added that he has indicated that the resolution will continue into February or March to buy time to complete work on all 12 spending bills.

Democrats, appropriators, and Republican advocacy hawks are also hesitant about the prospect of a year-round continuation resolution.

“I think their replacement position is actually CR for the past year. I don't think any appropriator would like CR,” said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), the top appropriator. He pointed out that this does not mean an increase in military spending. “So there's a lot of pushback, especially in the House military branch.” [Committee] And the same goes for defense budget occupiers. ”

Moderates and appropriators are seeking a short-term continuing resolution, long enough to buy lawmakers time to complete the spending process, and give them time to quickly pass more funding measures. We believe it is important to maintain the same level of pressure.

Another top spending lawmaker, Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio), said after his meeting with Mr. Johnson that it would take at least 18 months before the spending cardinal finished his work and hammered out policy riders in the funding bill. He said it would take 21 days.

Other ideas are also in the mix. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said the stopgap should “just fund the basic parts of government” until new spending is approved. Rep. Cat Cammack (R-Fla.) said another concept “currently under consideration” is a “cromnibus” that would fund the government through a combination of continuing resolutions and a long-term periodic funding omnibus. .

Meanwhile, the Senate is not waiting for Mr. Johnson to navigate a difficult and narrow majority. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York on Thursday moved to shut down the shell bill, which provides a continuing resolution, taking the first step toward moving forward with interim legislation. The council is considering a vote on Tuesday.

However, it is unclear how Prime Minister Boris Johnson will deal with the move from the House of Lords, and whether he will side with the hardliners or the usurpers, amid internal party controversy.

With funding deadlines looming, the chairman has said he doesn't want a shutdown, but he hasn't even explicitly said he would support any kind of stopgap.

Under the two-step deadline structure pushed by Prime Minister Johnson to avoid a huge omnibus funding bill, funding for Energy and Water Programs, Military Construction, Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development would be reduced to 1. It runs out on the 19th of the month. And the remaining government funding expires on February 2nd.

Separate from consideration of the interim bill, hardline conservatives are pushing for border security to be included in government funding efforts, pinning a politically touchy topic on an already complicated government shutdown showdown. There is.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) noted the bipartisan negotiations currently underway, saying, “We are confident that not only will border security be resolved within the Christmas Future supplement, but government funding will be We are asking for this to become a centerpiece of the discussion surrounding the provision of this information.” Senate debates border security measures to release aid to Ukraine. Despite months of negotiations, negotiators have not released an agreement.

Some members of the right have gone so far as to suggest they are prepared to shut down the government if the border issue is not addressed in the funding fight. Rep. Byron Donald (R-Fla.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said “no” when asked if he was concerned about a government shutdown after the weekend.

“Whether the government is open or closed is pretty much irrelevant in my opinion because the government isn't doing its job anyway,” he said. “It's not doing its job.”

Mike Lillis and Aris Folley contributed.