Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Jan. 14 evening unveiled the text of another stopgap funding bill that is set to be brought to the floor this week ahead of a key shutdown deadline.
The bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), would fund the government at current levels and extend the deadlines for a government shutdown to March 1 and March 8.
“The bipartisan topline funding agreement reached ensures that America will be able to address many of the major challenges our country faces at home and abroad,” Mr. Schumer said in a statement.
“To avoid a shutdown, it will take bipartisan cooperation in the Senate and the House to quickly pass the CR and send it to the President’s desk before Friday’s funding deadline,” the Senate majority leader added.
The deal was negotiated between Mr. Schumer, Mr. Johnson (R-La.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and the White House.
The bill would avert a partial government shutdown currently set to begin on Jan. 19 and a later shutdown on Feb. 2 due to the “laddered” nature of the previous stopgap funding bill.
Mr. Johnson in a Jan. 14 statement said the CR “is required to complete what House Republicans are working hard to achieve: an end to governance by omnibus, meaningful policy wins, and better stewardship of American tax dollars.”
But the right-flank of the House Republican conference has indicated they would not support another stopgap funding bill.
The House Freedom Caucus was swift in dismissing the proposal, writing in a post on X, “This is what surrender looks like.”
Given this opposition, the bill would likely need bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate to pass and send to President Joe Biden’s desk before the Jan. 19 deadline.
Many staunch conservatives in the conference view funding deadlines as a prime opportunity to win concessions on spending and border policy from the Democratic Senate and White House.
Because of Republicans’ opposition, pursuing a CR isn’t without risk for Mr. Johnson—it was former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) decision to work across the aisle to pass a CR in September that cost him the speaker’s gavel.
Most Republicans say Mr. Johnson isn’t under the same threat, but many have nonetheless been disappointed by his results in negotiations thus far.
The announcement of the latest in a long line of CRs comes as Congress stares down an impending shutdown with little progress to speak of on funding.
Last week, Mr. Johnson announced that he had reached a deal with President Joe Biden and Mr. Schumer on topline funding figures.
That deal—in line with the statutory requirements of last year’s Fiscal Responsibility Act—would come out to $1.59 trillion, including $886 billion for defense and $704 billion for non-defense expenditures. A side agreement reached would provide roughly $70 billion in further non-defense appropriations.
Mr. Johnson then extolled the deal, saying it would cut $10 billion from the IRS and reclaim $6 billion in unspent COVID relief funds.
House Republicans were less enthusiastic about it. Nearly as soon as the deal leaked, speculation began about whether Mr. Johnson would be removed from the speaker’s chair.
Republicans—including some who voted to remove Mr. McCarthy—have said that they likely won’t pursue the same course for Mr. Johnson. Still, the threat remains a possibility for Mr. Johnson, as current House rules require only a single member’s support to bring a motion to the floor to vacate the speakership.
Still, the immediate and substantial GOP opposition to the deal made clear that the House is still a ways off from reaching funding levels that Republicans will find palatable.
Should Mr. Johnson bring Mr. Schumer’s CR to the House floor, it would almost certainly need the support of Democrats to pass the lower chamber over Republican opposition.
Another CR would also go against an earlier commitment by Mr. Johnson to not pursue further CRs.
“The House Republican Conference is committed to never being in this situation again. I’m done with short-term CRs,” Mr. Johnson said in November.
From The Epoch Times
