Speaker Mike Johnson hopes to avoid government shutdown next week by stripping away enough democratic support for the funding bill without cutting the spending demanded by Hardline Gopers.
But so far, Democrats are not tired of them. We see a potential federal suspension as our greatest hope of drawing concessions from Republicans over the coming months.
Congress must pass measures to continue operating the government at full throttle until 11:59pm on March 14th.
“We want to pass cleanly [continuing resolution] NBC News (Meet the Press) told Johnson (R-La.) on Sunday.
Conservative Republicans are calling for any suspension measures to include codification of cuts ordered by Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is a non-starter for Congressional Democrats.
Republicans currently hold a slim majority of 218-215. That means Johnson can only lose one vote before he needs democratic assistance to pass the law.
Speaker's current plan is to continue operating the government at its current spending level until the end of fiscal year 2025 on September 30th.
Republicans will then work on codification of Doge Cuts in the 2026 appropriation budget process.
“We're working hard to fulfill our responsibility to keep the government open,” Johnson explained. “In 2016, in the next fiscal year, you'll see a very different process and more efficient and effective spending for people.”
Senate majority leader John Tune (R-SD) has it I let him know he's on board With that plan, I said “all options on the table” to avoid shutdown.
Johnson's operation opposes Congress' regular process of funding the federal government. This often involves passing 12 separate spending bills, which are compiled in an omnibus package, funding the government for each fiscal year.
In recent years, the passage of these 12 spending bills has been delayed, requiring continuous resolutions (CRs) to effectively maintain government spending on autopilot. Within the last 18 months, Congress has passed six CRs.
President Trump has publicly called for a suspension bill until the end of September to give Republicans more time to organize their fiscal plans.
Some of some hardlines, such as Chip Roy (R-Texas). I'm excited by the idea -But it's not enough.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-ny) It shows He wants to use the government shutdown fight to draw concessions from Republicans on some of Trump's enforcement actions.
“There was zero outreach from the Trump administration and House Republicans,” Jeffries, 54, said in a statement Sunday.
Meanwhile, Johnson has argued that Democrats “until this point, they have no interest in finding a reasonable solution” to future closures.
Democrats are also plagued by GOP leadership after dramatically cutting the last suspension passed in December in the last week of Joe Biden's presidency.
But the shutdown fight is over, and the next possible opportunity for Democrats to win from Republicans could come in negotiations over a debt cap. It is expected to need to increase by June.
But Johnson has taken steps to push the $4 trillion debt cap increase into the “big and beautiful” Trump agenda package.
After Congress resolves the shutdown fight, Republicans will focus on resolving laws in Trump's signature agenda package, which faces many obstacles.
Last week, House Republicans passed the blueprints they needed to begin the process of writing the law, but there are still differences in ironing on the Senate GOP.
