This month's chaotic government shutdown battle foreshadows some of the challenges House Republicans may face next year, as the major funding test awaits the incoming Republican trifecta.
Congress narrowly avoided a government shutdown last week, but not without some drama. While Republican leaders have struggled to meet President-elect Trump's tough demands, they have managed to navigate a close Republican majority and hammer out a deal that could be passed in the Democratic-led Senate in the 11th hour.
Lawmakers ultimately voted to keep the government's lights on until mid-March.
But some see the battle as a kind of exercise for Republicans to begin work in earnest on their 12 budget bills for fiscal year 2025 early next year.
“The reality is that for most of the first year, [is] We’re going to have a one-vote majority,” spending cardinal Rep. Chuck Fleischman (R-Tenn.) said earlier this month. “So, in a way, it’s like practice, showing you what you have to do.”
“On the positive side, we know we need to sit in a room and communicate and listen and work on some things,” he said. “It's probably not always going to be an easy time. I'm sure it will be for some people, but I think it was a good trial run for 2025.”
House Republican leaders are already finding it difficult to get different factions within the party to fight to pass a funding bill with a narrow majority in the House.
Leaders had previously aimed to pass all 12 annual funding bills before the August recess. But those hopes evaporated over the summer as divisions within the company flared over issues such as abortion.
“If you end up in a situation where all Democrats vote against every spending bill, you're going to end up hitting a wall, because some of our members are voting against some of these bills. Because we have several members who will vote,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said at the time, calling on the Senate to “get to work.”
The Senate has not yet passed an annual funding bill for fiscal year 2025, but the House has passed about half of the 12 full-year spending plans. But the House bill is far more partisan in nature than the bipartisan proposal crafted in the currently Democratic-led Senate, which requires a 60-vote threshold for most bills.
That means House Republicans had only a handful of defectors to pass the annual funding plan, with most or all Democrats voting against it. The gap will only get smaller in the next Congress, and the Republican-led Senate will have a majority over the House for the first time in about six months. 60 years.
Under a bill passed last week to avert a government shutdown, Congress set a new deadline of March 14 to fund the remainder of fiscal year 2025. And top spending officials on both sides insist that a deadline of about three months is realistic to complete the annual budget. Fundraising work.
“All of our bills are out of committee. We know where we are on all issues. So we just need to sit down and work with our colleagues.” said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.), noting his working relationship with Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patty Murray (D-Wash.). Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the top Republican on the committee. and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Connecticut), the top House Democratic appropriator.
“Let the expropriators do their job. As promised, the bills will be completed on time,” Cole said.
Despite controlling both chambers, a more partisan bill that puts House Republicans' starting position on the line will still differ from the final version in negotiations with the Senate, which would need Democratic votes for final passage. expected.
When asked about future funding efforts, Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), a fellow spending cardinal, said, “It's going to be difficult to negotiate a deal.” But he also dismissed concerns that across-the-board cuts could occur after April if Congress does not pass a fiscal year 2025 funding bill by then.
He added that appropriators would be able to complete the bill “on time” if leaders sign key agreements so negotiators can begin crafting a compromise between the two chambers.
However, earlier this month, President Trump reneged on an agreement between both chambers to continue the resolution, throwing lawmakers into confusion.
And some Republicans are worried about delays in funding efforts, especially as leaders focus on passing two budget reconciliation packages to tackle parts of President Trump's agenda next year, including the border, energy and taxes. already share concerns that it will take away much-needed time for other priorities.
Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.), head of the funding subcommittee that crafts the Department of Homeland Security funding bill, described next year's balancing act as a “multitasking Olympics.”
“We still have to finish it by March 15th. We have to finish 25 years, so reconciliation will be an important factor in how we finish 25 years,” Amodei told The Hill. He also said the settlement process could impact Congress' annual fundraising operations.
“It's going to be a multitasking time because we have to work on that at the same time we finish 2025 and start hearings, which is the first full year of 2026,” he added.
