The House of Representatives will try again Friday to pass legislation to avert a government shutdown, and will vote on a spending overhaul that excludes the debt ceiling increase that President-elect Trump had originally called for, three people said. sources told The Hill.
The package would fund the government at current levels through March 14, extend the Farm Bill by one year, and earmark billions of dollars for disaster relief and farmer assistance, including House Speaker Mike Johnson ( This is the same provision as the Republican Party of Louisiana's Plan B. The proposal died on the House floor Thursday night.
But unlike that measure, it was added to Friday's bill after Democrats and a few Republicans opposed the provision, even though President-elect Trump had originally called for such language to be included. would not include language about raising the debt ceiling.
House Republican leaders plan to bring the package to the floor under an expedited suspension of the rules process, which avoids the need for procedural rules approval but requires two-thirds support for passage. It is. It remains unclear whether Democrats will support the package.
The House is expected to vote on the new proposal around 5 p.m., sources told The Hill. Without action from Congress, much of the federal government will be shut down hours after midnight.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) emerged from a tense two-hour session of the Republican conference in the basement of the Capitol to make an update on the situation and with less than eight hours left until the deadline. I vowed not to close it at that point.
“There was unanimous agreement in the room that we need to move forward,” he told reporters.
“There will be no government shutdown,” he continued. “And we want to thank farmers in need, disaster victims across the country, and our military, essential services, and all those who rely on the federal government for paychecks during the holidays. Fulfill your obligation to ensure that you are paid.”
Instead of addressing the debt ceiling in the funding plan, which President Trump had wanted, Republicans agreed through a settlement to raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion in exchange for a net $2.5 trillion in spending cuts, two sources said. I admitted it. To The Hill.
The reconciliation process is a special procedure that circumvents the Senate filibuster and allows Republicans, who have three-way control, to advance their priorities without needing Democratic support. Republicans have long planned to use the process to advance their ambitious legislative agenda, including extending President Trump's 2017 tax cuts and tackling border security.
It's not clear which programs will be cut. The original version of the spending agreement presented to members covered mandatory spending cuts, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and veterans benefits, but one member said the final agreement removed the word “mandate.” said that it was done. Congress cannot use reconciliation to change Social Security.
One Republican lawmaker said the idea behind this stall strategy was to push Democrats into supporting the bill or not, even though it's unclear whether Democrats would provide the two-thirds support needed for passage. If not, he said the goal is to shut down the government before Republicans move forward with another plan.
“I think the idea here is that we can vote on this, so Democrats don't miss their afternoon flight,” said Rep. Mike Flood (R-Nebraska).
If the bill fails, Republicans could move forward with a strategy of splitting Plan B into three parts: a “clean” continuing resolution until March 14, a disaster relief bill, and a bill appropriating aid to farmers. Highly sexual.
Due to procedural issues, the House likely won't be able to adopt this three-pronged strategy until after midnight, when the government shutdown begins.
House Republicans were considering those two options in a closed session Friday, two sources told The Hill, in which a single bill introduced under the fast-track process. It became clear that there was “overwhelming agreement” in support of the
Updated at 3:02pm EDT
