House lawmakers are due to return to the Capitol on Monday afternoon to begin the final week of session before Election Day and a possible partial government shutdown.
Congress has just five days to reach an agreement on funding the government before the new fiscal year begins on Oct. 1. If the Republican-controlled House and Democratic-controlled Senate don't reach a deal by then, thousands of federal workers could be furloughed and several government programs could be temporarily shut down.
Republicans and Democrats agree that some sort of short-term extension of this year's funding, known as a continuing resolution (CR), is needed to buy negotiators time, but they disagree on how to get it done.
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U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson is exploring a way forward on government funding. (Getty Images/AP)
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, has not said what his plan will be after a six-month CR plan combined with a measure to require proof of citizenship in the voter registration process failed last week.
Fourteen Republicans joined all but three Democrats to reject the bill, a disappointing result for Johnson's allies who had hoped for a strong opening shot in negotiations with the Senate.
Several Republicans who spoke to Fox News Digital last week said they expect Johnson to wait until December to hold a “clean” CR vote, something Democrats and some Republican leaders hope for but which conservatives would view as a clear defeat.
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U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer opposed Johnson's original plan, but that plan failed. (Reuters/Mike Seeger)
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, policy chairman of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, made it clear that his fellow Republicans were to blame for getting the GOP into this situation.
“What we were trying to propose was a provision to push spending over to next year, to restructure the government with a new Congress, hopefully with Republicans in the House, Senate and White House…to sort things out so we don’t have any frivolous debates in December, to eliminate the possibility of an omnibus bill, and, oh yeah, to fight seriously about the bill. [Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act]” said Roy.
“But they wanted to be political Nostradamus and say, 'I'll tell you what's going to happen.' No, that's what's going to happen when you kill him in the cradle.”
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Rep. Chip Roy criticized Republicans for killing the conservative plan.
But there's no guarantee that Johnson's CR will be just a “clean” straight-forward extension.
Several Republicans have signaled they would support adding extra funding for the Secret Service and disaster relief to such a measure.
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And with Johnson’s majority of just four seats, he will almost certainly need Democratic support to pass the CR.
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