House GOP to consider stopgap to avert shutdown that includes deep spending cuts

House Republicans on early Friday rolled out their new plan for a short-term spending bill that would stave off a government shutdown.

The plan, dubbed the Spending Reduction and Border Security Act, would extend funding through the end of October but impose across-the-board cuts of about 30 percent — with exemptions for national defense, the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security, and for funding designated disaster relief.

The Rules Committee is expected to consider the legislation Friday morning before it could come to the floor for the vote.

Whether it can pass the House is a big question.

No Democrats are expected to vote for the measure, meaning Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) can only lose a maximum of four Republicans if the full House is in attendance.

More than four House Republicans have been on record saying they do not want to vote for any short-term spending measure to keep the government open. The government will close Sunday without a new funding measure.

Even if the bill does pass the House, it will be dead on arrival in the Democratic-majority Senate, which would also likely lead to a shutdown.

The Senate this weekend is expected to vote on its own short-term measure to prevent a shutdown, but McCarthy has told his conference he will not bring that bipartisan measure to the floor.

The House short-term measure also includes a chunk of the party’s signature border bill, known as H.R. 2, which would boost wall construction, hiring of border agents and restrict access to asylum, among other measures.

The bill also calls for the establishment of a fiscal commission that would identify solutions to achieve what it called a “sustainable debt-to-GDP ratio” and to balance the federal budget. It would recommend changes to improve solvency for some programs, such as Medicare and Social Security.