Amid floundering bipartisan negotiations over a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) replacement plan and a key spending caps deal, Republican leaders are trying to shore up enough votes to pass another stopgap funding bill before a government shutdown deadline on Friday.
Automatic spending cuts mandated by the Budget Control Act in 2011 are set to take effect January 21 unless a deal to raise the caps is made, but Democrats are reluctant to make such a deal until a bipartisan agreement over the future of 700,000 immigrants who arrived in the United States as children can also be reached.
Finding a tenable solution to both issues—complete with legislative text—in time for a vote on Friday seems unlikely.
So GOP leaders are gearing up to pass their fourth short-term spending bill since September in order to keep the lights on this week. The continuing resolution would allow Congress to kick the can a little further down the road. Roll Call reported Tuesday afternoon that the proposed CR would keep the government running through February 16.
Finding enough support to pass the stopgap bill could prove tough for Republican leaders, though. They need around 218 votes—that number could end up being lower, depending on how many members are present—to pass a CR. In the past, GOP leaders have depended on Democratic support to help carry short-term funding bills through the House.
Some hardline conservatives who typically oppose stopgap spending bills, such as Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, are indicating they won’t support such a measure.
And tension within the conference is mounting: Defense hawks would like to see a budget caps deal to allow a boost in defense spending. They have been pushing GOP leaders not to advance another CR, and some could threaten to withhold their support for the bill if congressional leaders cannot reach a deal on the spending caps.
According to Roll Call, House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry told reporters on Tuesday he may be open to supporting a CR he might not actually agree with, “but I am increasingly disturbed that support for our military is being tied to some other issue, some other agenda.”
GOP leaders can only lose 22 members in the House to pass a bill on a party-line vote. Seventeen Republicans voted against the most recent CR in December. Still, the bill enjoyed some Democratic support in the House at the time, and the package went on to pass the Senate with 18 Democrats’ votes.
But this time around, Republicans might not have as much support from Democrats.
Since President Donald Trump announced in September that he would let DACA expire, Democrats have grappled repeatedly over whether to help Republicans keep the government open, or whether to hold firm in demanding a DACA fix be included in a must-pass spending bill at the first opportunity.
Pressure from immigration activists and increased public scrutiny could make it difficult for Democrats to support a CR without a DACA replacement this time. And anger over comments Trump reportedly made during a meeting on immigration in which he described African nations as “shithole countries” last week may have added fuel to the fire.
As of Tuesday morning, a government shutdown was “more likely than not,” according to Democratic Senator Chris Coons.
In their deliberations, congressional Democrats make clear they don’t want to be blamed for shutting down the government. Despite controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House, Republicans have indicated that’s exactly what they intend to do in such a scenario.
“The Democrats want to shut down the Government over Amnesty for all and Border Security,” Trump tweeted Tuesday morning.
House minority whip Steny Hoyer told reporters during a pen and pad briefing Tuesday afternoon that House Democrats have not made a decision on whether they will urge their conference to oppose the CR or not.
One potential sweetener is the full reauthorization of the Child Health Insurance Program, which Republican leaders might include in their stopgap spending bill.
Additionally, NBC’s Leigh Ann Caldwell reported Tuesday afternoon that the CR will likely include a five-year suspension of the medical device tax and a one-year delay for both the health insurance tax and the Cadillac tax.
Republican leaders will brief members on the CR proposal during a conference meeting Tuesday night.
