House Republicans will spend the weekend attempting to reach a consensus on a budget deal with Democrats but with added pressure from House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).
Johnson told members of his party in a private call Friday night that dissension among House GOP members had given Democrats the upper hand in negotiations leading up to the government shutdown deadline next week, according to a Politico report late Friday.
Republicans are in disagreement over details in the first four spending bills, which will cover operations through the end of February. Congress has continued to fund federal departments in piecemeal bills rather than annual appropriations.
Johnson lamented that his ability to make a deal with Democrats has been undermined by certain Republicans who frequently block GOP measures from being debates on the House floor with a simple-majority vote threshold.
“Some members in our conference said it was as OK to take down a rule,” Johnson said during the call, referring to the rule that triggers regular floor debate.
Lawmakers have until March 1 to pass funding for the Departments of Agriculture, Energy, Transportation, and Veterans Affairs. Johnson told members on the call that he was optimistic about meeting that deadline, but admitted a partial government shutdown was still potential.
At present, Congress is shooting to have a short-term funding package for possibly three weeks ready to go by Sunday evening. It would allow lawmakers more time to work on bigger policy debates and a monthslong funding bill.
If House Republicans bypass normal floor debate rules, at least 290 votes are required to pass any spending measures, far beyond the majority threshold. It would require the support of dozens of Democrats.
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Making things more complicated, the more conservative members of the House GOP have broken with the party and blocked procedural votes over differences over how to spend billions of dollars on non-defense programs.
In the Friday night call, House Freedom Caucus member, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), pushed Johnson to include a stopgap through the end of September, the end of fiscal 2024. Language included in last year’s debt limit deal requires a long-term budget deal to make big cuts in domestic programs and pass up billions of dollars for defense projects.
