Republicans shift to plan B to prevent shutdown

House Republicans have shifted gears as they race to avoid a government shutdown, eyeing a three-month stopgap spending bill — in lieu of a six-month extension — while dropping their demand for tougher voting rules as part of the package. 

Top appropriators have already launched bipartisan talks in both chambers, and senior lawmakers said they expect the continuing resolution (CR) will extend 2024 funding into December while excluding the more stringent voter-eligibility rules demanded by former President Trump. 

“The aim here is to be pretty minimal, as close to a clean CR as we can do. Have anomalies that both sides can agree on,” House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said.

“Everybody wants to wait and see what happens in the election, and we’re pretty serious about trying to get something done by the end of the year.”

The timing of the bill’s release remains unclear. Negotiators still have a number of details to determine, including questions surrounding so-called anomalies — a reference to any changes to the current-year spending bills — and whether Congress will address emergency aid for natural disasters as part of the package.

But congressional aides say they expect Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and his allies on the House Appropriations Committee to post the text of CR on Sunday. And some House GOP appropriators said they want to move quickly out of concern that the price tag will grow significantly if the Senate moves first.

“The quicker, the faster that we get this done, there’s less risk that the Senate will make it very bloated,” said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), a senior appropriator. 

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), senior Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, said she expects the House will move first. 

A weekend release would give House lawmakers enough time to review the legislation and vote on it by either Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. DeLauro told reporters “I hope so” when asked if she is expecting a vote early next week.

Johnson told reporters that he hasn’t made any final decisions about the shape and scope of the funding stopgap. 

He defended his attempt to pass a six-month funding bill combined with voter registration reform — a package that failed on the House floor Wednesday evening — but acknowledged it’s time to change course. 

“We had two objectives: fund the government, secure our elections. Last night’s legislation would have done both. I was disappointed it didn’t get across the goal line, so now, having run that play, we go back to the playbook,” Johnson said. 

“We got lots of ideas, lots of members talking, having thoughtful conversations. … But I’m not making a play call yet, we got plenty of time,” he added. 

Republicans said they were disappointed in Wednesday’s failed vote but acknowledged they have few options remaining to prevent a shutdown at month’s end. 

“The Speaker was trying to get as much leverage as possible. … But a small group of Republicans decided to join all the Democrats [and kill it],” Diaz-Balart said. “So right now, that really kind of took away a lot of leverage for the negotiations.

“It’s pretty obvious how it’s going to more or less play out.”

The change in strategy, to be sure, does not come as a surprise: Members in both parties and chambers predicted that the funding fight would end in a “clean” stopgap into December, which would garner strong bipartisan support. Democrats — and even some Republicans — said they would not support a stopgap into next year that included the voting registration bill, dubbed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, making it unable to avert a shutdown.

But the plan, as it comes to fruition, is sure to put Johnson in hot water with hard-line conservatives — who wanted to pass a bill to extend funding into next year — and with Trump, who urged GOP lawmakers to vote against any spending measure that did not include the SAVE Act.

“Non-starter pure & simple!!” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told The Hill in a text message when asked about Johnson moving toward a “clean” three-month stopgap.

A source familiar with the matter confirmed to The Hill that Johnson has spoken to Trump about the government funding fight. The Speaker told reporters he was scheduled to meet with the former president Thursday night.

The change from Johnson, however, is sure to be a welcome development for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who expressed confidence Thursday that Johnson would eventually move a funding bill without the controversial SAVE Act because he doesn’t want to imperil his party’s chances in the November election by triggering a government shutdown. 

“Many Republican House members … are smart enough to know that if there’s a shutdown, it will be a Republican shutdown,” he said. “They realize that Donald Trump, when it comes to legislating, doesn’t know what the heck he is talking about.” 

Asked whether he had any “red lines” in the talks with Johnson, Schumer said, “I’m not going to negotiate in public.” 

Senators say they hope to get hold of a House-passed bill by Wednesday or Thursday so they can push it across the Senate floor by Monday, Sept. 30, when government funding is due to lapse.

“The House hopefully is going to move to plan B and give us something to work with,” Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) said. “My assumption [is if] they can get something out, they vote it early next week in time for us to act on it.”

Thune and other senators say they’re still waiting on the House to move first on a short-term government funding bill.

Senate Republicans, in particular, don’t want to embarrass Johnson by “jamming” him with a bipartisan Senate-passed bill before the House has acted.

“I think it’s helpful for everybody if the House moves first,” Thune said.

One Republican aide said the other congressional leaders, including Schumer and Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), have given Johnson “a lot of deference” to manage conservatives in the House GOP conference who demanded a six-month continuing resolution paired with the SAVE Act.

But after the six-month stopgap failed Wednesday in the House by a 202-220 vote, congressional aides said they expected Johnson to begin negotiating in earnest with Schumer.

The clock is ticking. On Thursday, Schumer filed cloture on the legislative vehicle that could be used to pass a Senate-originated funding bill through the upper chamber next week if the House is unable to act. 

Such a fail-safe option would be a government funding bill lasting until December entirely free of controversial policy riders or add-ons.

If Johnson can’t first pass a funding measure through the House by Wednesday, the Senate would move without the House and send its own bill across the Capitol before the Sept. 30 deadline. 

Johnson then would be faced with the option of putting the Senate funding bill on the House floor for a vote — where it would pass with a large bipartisan majority — or letting the government shut down.

“If the House can’t get its act together, we’re prepared to move forward,” Schumer told reporters Thursday. 

 Aris Folley contributed.