Democratic leaders in the House and Senate signaled openness on Monday to a Republican funding bill they had panned as unserious only days ago.
Over the weekend, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) unveiled a “laddered” continuing resolution that extends government funding in two stages, with some agencies lapsing on Jan. 19 and the rest on Feb. 3.
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Appropriators in both chambers, including senior Republicans, had dismissed the unorthodox approach as “convoluted,” while Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) called it a “nonstarter.”
Yet Democrats, seeing that Johnson kept spending cuts and other so-called poison pills out of the bill text, left the door open to backing it with days until a government shutdown.
Jeffries expressed reservations about the “bifurcation” of government funding in a “Dear Colleague” letter co-signed by his leadership team and called the absence of money for Ukraine “troublesome.” But in a shift, he told his conference Monday that Democratic leadership was “carefully evaluating” the proposal, which the House will vote on as soon as Tuesday.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the top Democrat in the Senate, called the measure “far from perfect” yet openly praised Johnson for it, in part because the speaker placed defense in the second tranche of spending bills. He cautioned Johnson, however, against changes as hard-line conservatives come out against it.
“For now, I am pleased that Speaker Johnson seems to be moving in our direction by advancing a CR that does not include the highly partisan cuts that Democrats have warned against,” Schumer said from the Senate floor on Monday.
Though his remarks fall short of an endorsement, they signal the Senate could take up the House bill, or some version of it, and avoid what might have been a pitched battle between the two chambers. That became all the more likely when Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), speaking from the Senate floor minutes later, supported Johnson’s approach as a “responsible measure that will keep the lights on.”
The path to passage is far from certain, however. At least eight Republicans, mostly members of the conservative Freedom Caucus, have come out against the measure.
In a chamber Johnson narrowly controls, that means Democrats will need to support it, perhaps in large numbers, as he weighs whether to skip a procedural step and pass it under a suspension of the rules, in which case the measure must attract two-thirds support instead of the usual majority.
Conservatives had tanked several procedural votes under previous Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
Johnson is threading something of a middle ground, hoping to bring Democrats on board while avoiding the fate of McCarthy, who was deposed by hard-liners in October.
The “laddered” approach, proposed by appropriator and Freedom Caucus member Andy Harris (R-MD), would prevent the holiday omnibuses of past spending fights with its two-part extension into 2024. But the lack of budget cuts makes the proposal more appealing to Democrats.
Schumer ultimately canceled a procedural vote on a bill he intended to use for the Senate’s CR so the House could vote first.
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“We are pausing on our plans to move forward on a Senate vehicle to allow the House to move forward with their proposal,” he said Monday evening, saying he feels “heartened” by Johnson’s plan.
The White House, by contrast, called the proposal a “recipe for more Republican chaos” on Saturday but stopped short of a veto threat.
