House GOP hopes to pass funding package to avoid government shutdown: Live updates

Under his proposal, Speaker Mike Johnson is putting forward a unique — critics say bizarre — two-part process that temporarily funds some federal agencies to Jan. 19 and others to Feb. 2. It’s a continuing resolution, or CR, that comes without any of the deep cuts conservatives are demanding. It also fails to include President Joe Biden’s request for nearly $106 billion for Ukraine, Israel, border security and other supplemental funds.

“I think it’s a very big mistake,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a member of the hard-right Freedom Caucus.

Roy said there’s “a whole lot of opposition” among House Republicans to partnering with Democrats to pass the bill.

The Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said his party is “carefully evaluating” the proposal from the Republican leadership before giving approval.

“We remain concerned,” he said about the two-part approach. Veteran lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have called it cumbersome, unusual and unworkable.

But Jeffries in a letter to Democratic colleagues noted that the GOP package met the Democratic demands to keep funding at current levels without steep reductions or divisive Republican policy priorities.

“We have articulated that we will not accept any extreme right-wing policy provisions in connection with funding the government,” Jeffries wrote.

The last time Congress tried to fund the government to prevent a federal shutdown, it cost House Speaker Kevin McCarthy his job.

This time, new Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., appears on track for a better outcome Tuesday as the House prepares to vote on a stopgap package to keep the government running into the new year. If approved, the Senate would act next, ahead of Friday’s shutdown deadline.

The new Republican leader faces the same political problem that led to McCarthy’s ouster, and is unlikely to win enough support from his Republican majority to pass the bill on its own. Instead, Johnson will be forced to rely on Democrats to ensure passage to keep the federal government running.

Johnson has called it a “necessary bill” that he hoped would put House Republicans “in the best position to fight” for their conservative priorities in the new year.

The speaker’s funding plan will likely need Democratic support amidst opposition from five House Republicans.

The Republicans can only lose four votes to pass a bill without Democratic support.

“My opposition to the clean CR just announced by the Speaker to the @HouseGOP cannot be overstated,” Mr Roy wrote on X. “Funding Pelosi level spending & policies for 75 days – for future ‘promises.’”

“I am opposed to the CR that has been proposed, because it contains no spending reductions, no border security, & no policy wins for the American people. I am committed to working with Speaker Johnson & my House colleagues to chart a better path forward for our country,” Mr Good said.

But including cuts rightwing Republicans want would make the spending bill dead on arrival in the Democratic Senate and White House.

“My opposition to the clean CR just announced by the Speaker to the @HouseGOP cannot be overstated,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, tweeted on X. “Funding Pelosi level spending & policies for 75 days – for future ‘promises.’”

The White House, meanwhile, panned the plan as “unserious,” unworkable and a threat to national security and domestic programs.

“This proposal is just a recipe for more Republican chaos and more shutdowns—full stop,” said press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, pointing to opposition from members of both parties. “House Republicans need to stop wasting time on their own political divisions, do their jobs, and work in a bipartisan way to prevent a shutdown.”

The bill excludes funding requested by President Joe Biden for Israel, Ukraine and the U.S. border with Mexico. Johnson said separating Biden’s request for an emergency supplemental bill from the temporary, stopgap measure “places our conference in the best position to fight for fiscal responsibility, oversight over Ukraine aid, and meaningful policy changes at our Southern border.”

Hardline conservatives, usually loathe to support temporary spending measures of any sort, had indicated they would give Johnson some leeway to pass legislation, known as a continuing resolution, or CR, to give Congress more time to negotiate a long-term agreement.

GOP Rep Carlos Giménez said on Fox Business that Speaker Johnson’s government funding plan is similar to “what got Kevin McCarthy in trouble”.

“I think you’ll get some Democrat votes … You’ll get some Republicans not to vote for it,” he said.

Kurt Bardella, a former Republican Capitol Hill staffer who’s now a Democratic strategist, wrote on X on Monday that “Republicans in Congress seem determined to remind the American people every single day that they have no earthly idea what they are doing.

“@SpeakerJohnson is in over his head. The result will be yet another government shutdown courtesy of the GOP,” he added.