New Speaker grasps for funding plan with shutdown looming
WASHINGTON — With just a week left to avert a government shutdown, new House Speaker Mike Johnson is facing his first big test as he tries to win House Republican support for a shortterm funding plan — a task that looks increasingly difficult amid stubborn divisions in the party over federal spending. Federal agencies are making plans for a shutdown that would shutter government services and halt paychecks for millions of federal workers and military troops. It’s a disruption that John- son — just two weeks into his job running the House — has said he wants to avoid. Yet House lawmakers left Washington for the weekend without a plan in hand after several setbacks. Johnson is still sounding out support among Republicans about what to do and is expected to unveil funding legislation over the weekend, accord- ing to Republicans granted anonymity to discuss inter- nal deliberations. The shrinking calen- dar gives Johnson, a Loui- siana Republican who has vaulted from the lower ranks of Republican leadership to the speaker’s office, a narrow window to corral an unpre- dictable GOP conference. “We’re running up against the clock on Nov. 17, and we’re obviously aware of that,” Johnson said this week, referring to the date that government funding expires. “But we are going to get the job done.” Hardline conservatives, usually loathe to support temporary spending mea- sures of any sort, had indicated they would give John- son some leeway to pass legis- lation, known as a continuing resolution, to give Congress more time to negotiate a long- term agreement. Congress passed a 47-day continuing resolution in October, but the fallout was severe. Kevin McCarthy was booted from the speakership days later, and the House was effec- tively paralyzed for most of the month while Republicans tried to elect a replacement. Republicans eventually were unanimous in electing Johnson speaker, but his ele- vation has hardly eased the dynamic that led to McCa- rthy’s removal — a confer- ence torn on policy as well as how much to spend on federal programs. This week, Republicans had to pull two spending bills from the floor — one to fund transporta- tion and housing programs and the other to fund the Treasury Department, Small Business Administration and other agencies — because they didn’t have the votes in their own party to push them through the House. “I thought we were going to show the speaker a little bit of grace,” said a frustrated Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, as he exited the Capitol Thurs- day after the last votes of the week. “I think it’s looking like we’re still confused and we are not united.” Johnson has turned to House Republicans for ideas on how to win support for a continuing resolution. He has floated the obscure idea of a “laddered” approach that would fund some parts of the government until early December and other federal departments until mid-Jan- uary. He has also raised the idea of a funding package that would last into January. Meanwhile, lawmakers are still looking for a way to negotiate final passage of aid for Israel in its war with Hamas, and Johnson has also proposed the forma- tion of a new federal commission focused on slow- ing increases in the national debt that threaten the gov- ernment’s ability in future years to finance the military and major entitlement pro- grams relied on by and the disabled. Democrats have made it clear they will not support any funding packages that include policy wins for conservatives. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who the Democratic leader in the House, said they would not “pay a single, right-wing ransom demand” as part of a funding resolution. Democratic lawmakers are also eager to play up the House Republican divisions and to pin any blame for a shutdown squarely on the new speaker and his GOP colleagues. “They are a divided, divisive, dysfunctional majority,” said Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md. “They can’t get their business done, to the detriment of Americans.” On the other side of the Capitol, the Democratic-held Senate took procedural steps Thursday that would allow it to take up a continuing resolution in time to avoid a partial shutdown. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said negotiations could evolve in the coming days, but added that a shutdown cannot be avoided without bipartisan cooperation. “I implore Speaker Johnson and our House Republican colleagues to learn from the fiasco of a month ago: Hard-right proposals, hardright slashing cuts, hard-right poison pills that have zero support from Democrats will only make a shutdown more likely,” Schumer said. “I hope they don’t go down that path in the week to come.” But the Senate is also involved in delicate negotiations involving changes to border policy and funding for Ukraine. Republican senators have demanded that Congress pass immigration and border legislation alongside additional Ukraine aid.