WASHINGTON—The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on Sept. 19 on a bill to fund the government through Nov. 21, therefore avoiding a government shutdown.
The government runs out of funding on Oct. 1 as the last day of the fiscal year is Sept. 30. The bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), would fund the government at current levels. It also includes $88 million in security funding for members of Congress, the executive branch, and Supreme Court justices in the wake of the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
At least three House Republicans are opposed to the short-term government funding bill: Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky), Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).
“This CR would be a copy of the uniparty spending bill under [President Joe] Biden. I didn’t vote for those spending priorities when Biden was President and I won’t vote for them now,” posted Massie on X.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) can only afford to lose two Republicans on party-line votes.
Appearing on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Sept. 17, Johnson said that Republicans are trying to go through the usual process of funding the government through appropriations, but more time is needed.
“We’re now forcing the mechanism of a conference committee. …When you have the House and the Senate with the same bills that don’t match exactly, you get a subset of people in those areas of jurisdiction who go into a room and work it out; that’s how the system is supposed to work,” he said.
“So, we’re going to do that again. We’re moving forward productively, but the concern is that we’ve run out of [time] to finish that process,” he said. “We need a short-term, very clean continuing resolution, to keep the government open so our appropriators can continue to do their work.”
Democrats’ Opposition
The Democrats have released a competing continuing resolution that would fund the government through Oct. 31.
That proposal, which has virtually no chance of passing Congress, would extend enhanced Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies that are due to expire at the end of this year, and reverse Medicaid reforms enacted in Trump’s tax-cut-and-spending bill passed over the summer. It would also place limits on the Trump administration’s ability to claw back funding approved by Congress.
Democrats have said they will oppose the GOP funding bill.
“The House Republican-only spending bill fails to meet the needs of the American people and does nothing to stop the looming healthcare crisis. At a time when families are already being squeezed by higher costs, Republicans refuse to stop Americans from facing double-digit hikes in their health insurance premiums,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) in a Sept. 16 statement.
If all Republicans in the Senate are united, they would need seven Democrats to join them to overcome a filibuster.
In March, Schumer voted for a GOP-led continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown, while Jeffries voted against it. Schumer had come under fire from other Democrats for supporting it.
Johnson has criticized Democrats for being against the short-term measure.
“We’re just trying to keep the lights on. And they’re trying to insert this as a sort of last-ditch effort to regain their footing because the party is reeling right now,” he said on CNBC, referring to Democrats wanting to insert an extension of Obamacare premium subsidies into the funding bill.
OF course MTG i against it.. SHE IS MORE a dem than some dems are.