House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., says that even though lawmakers will only have four days to avoid a government shutdown when they return from a two-week recess later this month, he’s optimistic Republicans will keep the lights on.
“I don’t believe so,” Ryan answered when asked at a WisPolitics event in Washington if the government would shut down again.
Government agencies temporarily closed their doors in 2011 and 2013 because an “opposition party [was] fighting the other party in the White House,” Ryan said. “We don’t have to go get Obama riders from the Obama administration … so that takes a lot of pressure off the problem.
“We’re not worried about the Trump administration,” seeking policies with which congressional Republicans disagree, Ryan said.
He also said his preference is for the House to finish funding the government for the rest of fiscal 2017 instead of just approving another stopgap spending measure.
“I don’t think people want to see the Pentagon get another continuing resolution, which really hurts our war fighters and veterans,” Ryan said.
Back on Capitol Hill, however, rank-and-file Republicans, and members of his whip team, fear at least an internal GOP showdown over spending levels, if not an actual government closure.
The federal government will run out of money April 28 unless Congress acts.
