House Republican leaders changed course on a three-month process for considering government funding bills, abandoning plans to move the bill through the normal process after opposition from some on the right threatened to block it.
The stopgap measure, which would currently fund the government through Dec. 20, is expected to be introduced in Congress this week under a suspension of the rules, a process that avoids the need to pass procedural rules and would require significant support from Democrats to reach the two-thirds support threshold needed for passage, making it anathema to hard-line conservatives.
It's just the latest hurdle for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and House Republicans over a government funding bill, after their initial maneuvering over a budget bill failed last week due to party opposition.
The House Rules Committee convened Monday afternoon to consider a range of measures, including the stopgap measure, but later in the day the committee decided to remove the government funding measure from the final package of bills put together that night.
“So we're going to bring this up on a standstill, which is the way we thought about it originally,” Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), the ranking member of the House Rules Committee, said at the end of Monday's hearing.
“Your wish will be granted,” House Rules Committee Chairman Michael Burgess (R-Texas) responded.
The stopgap bill is currently being considered under suspension and is expected to pass the House, with a majority of Democrats and a significant number of Republicans expected to support it, before it heads to the Senate before the government shutdown ends on September 30.
A vote this week would put an end to the current showdown over shutting down the House, which has become a headache for the speaker.
Johnson's first “play” in the fight over government funding was to combine a six-month continuing resolution with a measure to require proof of citizenship to register to vote (called the Protect American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act), which had been pushed by former President Trump. Of course, the bill was not expected to pass due to opposition from Senate Democrats and the White House, but it was intended as a shot in the arm to open negotiations.
But Johnson never got a chance to make his first move, because it failed to pass the House: Fourteen Republicans, mostly fiscal hawks who are hesitant to any continuing resolution, voted against the bill.
Johnson is now working to pass a three-month stopgap bill crafted by leaders of both parties and the House that excludes Republican-backed legislation. He had initially tried to pass the bill through the regular process, which would require the passage of procedural rules.
“We're trying to follow the normal procedures, the normal sequence as far as we can,” Johnson told reporters on the day the rules took effect, bringing forward the three-month CR.
But hours later, some hard-line conservatives said they would oppose the procedural rule when it was introduced in the House as a way to protest the bill. If the rule is rejected — which would require just a few Republican votes — the House would be unable to debate the bill and hold a final vote on it.
Some on the right have already vowed to vote against the rules.
“I say no,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-South Carolina) told The Hill when asked how he would vote on the rule, pointing to the SAVE Act's exemption.
Democrats are highly unlikely to take the unusual step of backing a procedural vote, even if they support a temporary measure. Rules votes generally fall along party lines regardless of how lawmakers vote on the basis of the bill, but House conservatives have used them to protest bills they don't agree with.
“It's not clear that House Republicans are capable of fulfilling their basic responsibility to govern – to give the American people all the information they need,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York was quoted as saying. He told Punchbowl News Early Monday morning.
Rep. Kevin Hahn (R-Okla.) emerged from a leadership meeting in Gov. Johnson's office Monday evening saying he believes there will be enough Republican support to pass a continuing resolution on Dec. 20 under the suspension of the rules.
“The public understands that we have to win the election, that there's a lot going on right now, and as you know, the world is on fire,” Hahn said, referring to the need to raise military funds.
Politically, the situation for Johnson is far from ideal.
Hardline conservatives have criticized both Johnson and his predecessor, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), for introducing bills through Congress that had more Democratic support than Republicans.
McCarthy also found himself ousted as speaker a year ago in a strikingly similar situation, when Republicans rejected a partisan option and he was forced to scramble for a short-term stopgap measure.
But Johnson rejected the comparisons to McCarthy.
“The situation is totally different,” he told reporters Monday.
When pressed by reporters if it was the same play call, Johnson said, “No, it wasn't.”
