Washington — House Republicans will fast-track passage of a short-term spending bill after bypassing the lower chamber’s Rules Committee. bipartisan measure to keep government open faced opposition from conservative members of the panel.
House Republicans are expected to put the three-month funding bill to a vote in the full House under a procedure known as a suspension of rules, meaning it will need a two-thirds majority to pass. House Speaker Mike Johnson will once again have to rely on Democrats to push the bill through.
The bill is expected to come up for a vote Wednesday, according to House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican.
The House Rules Committee was set to vote on whether to approve the measure in a floor vote Monday night, but it canceled the rules vote after Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Rep. Chip Roy of Texas said they would not support it. If the measure had come to a floor vote under rules, it would have required a simple majority to pass.
“Republicans need Democrats to keep government open,” said Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the committee’s top Democrat.
House conservatives have been lobbying the lower chamber for months to pass the dozen individual appropriations bills that fund the government. The short-term bill, they argue, allows Congress to pass a massive spending bill, known as an “omnibus,” at the end of the year, when lawmakers are eager to leave Washington for the holidays.
“I encourage people not to vote for this,” Massie said. “Why do we want to trigger a government shutdown crisis the week before Christmas? Why would we even want to trigger a government shutdown crisis next spring? We shouldn’t. We should fund this for a year.”
Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, unveiled the latest plan Sunday after the House last week rejected his initial plan that combined a six-month funding bill with a measure requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote.
The new plan would fund the government at current levels through Dec. 20, pushing the spending battle until after the November election. But it also risks ruining lawmakers’ December recess if they can’t reach a new deal to extend funding into next year.
In a letter to colleagues on Sunday, Johnson said the three-month measure was “the only option left.”
“Our legislation will be very restricted and minimalist. [continuing resolution] “including only those extensions that are absolutely necessary,” he wrote, adding that it prevents “the Senate from burdening us with a bill loaded with billions of dollars in new spending and unrelated provisions.”
While extension resolutions typically do not change funding levels, the three-month bill includes about $230 million in additional funding for the Secret Service, which comes after a second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. The ballot measure that was part of the six-month funding legislation, which Democrats had opposed, is no longer attached.
“While this is not our preferred course, it is the most prudent course under the current circumstances,” Johnson wrote. “As history has taught and current polls confirm, shutting down the government less than 40 days before a fateful election would be an act of political malfeasance.”
Trump had called for a government shutdown if lawmakers failed to pass the voting measure, known as the SAVE Act, even though it is already illegal for non-citizens to vote in federal elections. reported On Friday, Trump could soften his calls for a shutdown, saying the former president “understands the situation we’re in.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, both from New York, praised the bipartisan negotiations that led to the funding deal. Schumer said in a statement Sunday that he hoped Congress could pass the legislation this week.
“This deal could have easily been done weeks ago, but House Speaker Johnson and Republicans chose to listen to Donald Trump’s partisan demands instead of working with us from the beginning,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Monday.
Nikole Killion and
contributed to this report.
