Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) rejected a last-minute push by House conservatives to attach Republicans’ border security bill to a short-term funding measure that will pass the House.
Members of the Freedom Caucus met with Johnson on Thursday, just hours before the lower chamber is set to vote on a continuing resolution that would avoid a partial government shutdown over the weekend. Conservatives pressed Johnson to amend the resolution text to include House Republicans’ signature border bill, H.R. 2, in the final version of the funding extension — a request they said the speaker was “considering.”
“[Rep. Andy] Harris and I just went and spoke with the speaker about an opportunity to add border security to the continuing resolution for the four bills that would be impacted by this continuing resolution, and we believe that’s a win for the country,” Good told reporters. “It’s a win for the American people, it secures the border, and it uses the funding mechanisms as an opportunity to do that. And it keeps the government open.”
However, a spokesman for the speaker said the plan for passing the continuing resolution “has not changed,” indicating border reforms will not be attached.
“The House is voting on the stop gap measure tonight to keep the government open,” Raj Shah said in a statement.
Doing so would have complicated lawmakers’ timeline for averting a government shutdown, which is scheduled to take effect at 11:59 p.m. on Friday. The Senate is set to vote on the continuing resolution on Thursday afternoon before sending the legislation to the House without border policy changes.
If Johnson had agreed to include conservatives’ proposal — which would attach H.R. 2 to the continuing resolution, minus changes to E-verify — the bill’s passage would be delayed and likely result in a short-term shutdown. A proposed amendment would have first needed to go through the Rules Committee and then brought to the floor for a vote.
If that passed, the full CR would have been voted on by the House with the inclusion of the amendment. The CR could then be sent back to the Democratic-led Senate but would have been rejected, putting the two chambers at an impasse.
Conservatives justified their request by pointing to 14 Democrats who joined Republicans in supporting a resolution denouncing the Biden administration‘s border policies, arguing there is enough support in both parties to attach border reforms.
Further complicating the timeline, House leaders announced they would cancel votes on Friday due to inclement weather. The Senate is also expected to leave town after concluding votes on Thursday.
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Senate and House leaders unveiled their proposal for a stopgap measure on Sunday, pushing the spending deadlines of Friday and Feb. 2 to March 1 and March 8, respectively. The new agreement would give lawmakers six weeks to finalize their must-pass spending legislation and fund the government for fiscal 2024.
The agreement has received staunch opposition from some House conservatives, prompting Johnson to plan on bringing the CR to the floor on suspension of the rules — meaning it will require a two-thirds majority to pass. House Democrats have already come out in support of the bipartisan agreement, likely providing enough votes for the measure to succeed.
