Senior House Democrats are warning Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) not to acquiesce to conservative demands for controversial policy riders in proposed legislation to avert a scheduled government shutdown next week.
In a letter sent to Johnson on Friday, more than a dozen Democrats urged the speaker to advance must-pass appropriations bills without “harmful poison policy riders” that have been proposed by members of the House Freedom Caucus. The warning puts increased pressure on Johnson as he navigates the government spending fight just days before federal funding is set to lapse for a number of agencies.
“We are extremely concerned that the House Republican Leadership continues to advocate for policy riders that have been shown time and time again to be unpopular with the American people and obstacles to completing the appropriations process,” the letter states, according to a copy obtained by the Washington Examiner. “Again, after a series of missed deadlines and missed opportunities, advancing appropriations legislation free of poison pill provisions represents the only responsible path forward. We owe it to the American people to expeditiously pass appropriations bills that meet the urgent needs of today and invest in America’s future.”
The letter, signed by top Democrats including Rules Committee ranking member Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Progressive Caucus Chairwoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), comes in response to a list of demands released by the House Freedom Caucus earlier this week that includes policy provisions previously rejected by Democrats and even by some centrist Republicans. Those include defunding the Pentagon’s abortion travel policy, prohibiting funding for gun registries and red-flag gun laws, and blocking attempts by the Biden administration to remove parts of the southern border wall.
Freedom Caucus members argue that if those demands are not included in a government spending bill, Congress should instead enact a one-year stopgap bill that implements 1% budget cuts across the board. Democrats pushed back against that proposal, urging Johnson to adhere to the government spending levels that were agreed upon between the speaker and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) last month.
“We strongly believe Congress must appropriate adequate funding for non-defense discretionary programs,” the lawmakers wrote. “Enacting domestic spending levels below the $773 billion levels agreed by Speaker Johnson and Leader Schumer would threaten the health, safety, security, and economic well-being of our constituents.”
It’s not yet clear how Congress plans to avoid a government shutdown before the March 1 deadline, but the possibility of packaging appropriations bills into so-called minibuses has been raised among House GOP leaders, a source familiar with the conversations told the Washington Examiner.
Such a move would likely be accepted in the Democratic-led Senate, according to aides in the upper chamber. Another source told the Washington Examiner that talks are ongoing between House and Senate leaders, with the release of a funding proposal as soon as Sunday evening.
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House Republicans are set to meet for a member-only meeting on Friday evening to discuss a path forward on appropriations, according to multiple lawmakers.
The first batch of bills set to expire provides funding on Agriculture; Military Construction and Veterans Affairs; Transportation, Housing and Urban Development; and Energy and Water. The deadline to pass the remaining appropriations bills is March 8.
