House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) abandoned plans to force a vote on a GOP-friendly government spending bill Wednesday, as his unruly Republican conference and new demands by former president Donald Trump slowed work to prevent a possible shutdown.
By Jacob Bogage
and That bill would extend government funding to March 28 and would add unrelated new requirements that voters show proof of citizenship before registering for federal elections.
But infighting within the Republican conference — more of the same conflicts that have brewed there for more than a year — sank Johnson’s plan. Trump on Tuesday had urged Republicans to force a shutdown if they can’t secure the new registration requirements, which Democrats oppose and which elections officials say are unnecessary.
Johnson told reporters that House leadership would “do the hard work and build consensus” over the weekend and ideally reemerge for a vote next week.
“We’re having thoughtful conversations, family conversations, within the Republican conference, and I believe we’ll get there. People have concerns about all sorts of things. That’s how the process works, and sometimes it takes a little more time,” he said.
“We’ll keep you posted,” he added.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, called for Johnson to abandon his GOP-only funding plan and begin negotiations with spending leaders from both parties and both chambers of Congress in the end-of-year, “lame duck” session. Other Republicans almost religiously refuse to vote for continuing resolutions of any kind. And others were swayed by or felt pressure from Trump over his shutdown demand.
The speaker said earlier in the week that he had “no fallback position” if Republicans rejected his approach.
“For the good of the American people, Congress must move on from House Republicans’ partisan continuing resolution proposals and begin negotiating a funding bill that can earn the support of both Democrats and Republicans in the House and the Senate,” DeLauro said in a statement. “It is past time for Chairman Tom Cole, Chair Patty Murray, Vice Chair Susan Collins, and I to begin good-faith negotiations on a continuing resolution that will keep government programs and services Americans depend on functioning while we complete our work on full-year funding bills before the end of the 118th Congress.”
The appropriations process has dogged the House Republican majority throughout this Congress. Fighting over how to fund the current fiscal year led the GOP to oust Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from the speakership last fall. Both he and Johnson have had to rely on Democratic votes to pass government spending legislation. And previous strategies — from both McCarthy and Johnson — to attach conservative immigration and border security policies to funding bills have failed.
Far-right Republicans on Wednesday afternoon said their main priority in the funding fight was extending government financing into 2025, hoping to strip Senate Democrats and Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) of leverage and allowing a new presidential administration to weigh in.
“I call it giving the checkbook to Chuck Schumer. That’s the worst of the worst,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), who supports Johnson’s plan, told The Washington Post.
But Johnson could lack the clout to win even that concession: Senate Republicans largely oppose the longer funding deadline. The upper chamber has far more to do in a new presidential administration than the House, with dozens of presidential nominations to sort through. Senate Republicans are also far less sensitive to spending concerns than House conservatives, and more averse to shutdowns.
“There needs to be something that the House can pass and that the Democrats can accept. There’s two forces here that aren’t in agreement, and there needs to be an agreement to avoid shutting down,” Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) said Tuesday. “I’ve never seen [shutdowns] be successful politically or policy-wise.”
