House to take up new funding bill as some Republicans fear a 'galactically stupid' shutdown

The House is expected to vote this week on a short-term funding measure extending through September as the calendar runs down and Donald Trump urges Republicans to fund the government only on condition that they get the non-starters policy riders they seek.

Ignoring Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., reached an agreement with the White House and the main Democrats on Sunday to provide $1.3 trillion of funding at current levels through December 20, 2021, but without a provision that Trump insisted on to change the rules for voting across the country.

When asked to categorically state if Trump, whom Johnson has frequently consulted with regarding the funding battle, would be comfortable with passage of a package but without the citizenship voting prong, or SAVE Act, Johnson did not answer when after the House recessed for the week on Friday. Trump and Johnson met for three hours at Mar-a-Lago last week after a second suspect strike on Trump’s life and the two more combined again this Thursday in Washington.

Asked by the reporters Johnson said, “I have spoken to President Trump so many times.” “I will not reveal all of that, but he knows the position that we are in. He is very committed, as are Senators Collins, Roberts, and King, to make sure election security is not ignored and that is why I combined the SAVE Act with the CR.

The federal government will shut down at 12:at 01 a.m on Oct 1 if the congress cannot approve a short-term spending bill, known as continuing resolution or CR. President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D.N.Y., praised the CR that was made available on Sunday and called on the House to approve it.

Speaking on Sunday, Schumer said, “If both sides remain committed to the good faith negotiations, I should be able to conclude the work on the CR this week latest by September 30.” “The best way to complete our business this week will be with support from members of the other political party, in both houses.”

Last week, 14 House Republicans joined nearly all Democrats to kill a six-month funding bill with the SAVE Act in it. It gave House and Senate negotiators a chance to proceed creating a “clean” continuing resolution with no policies added to it after an embarrassing failure for republicans.

Johnson released the text of the new CR on Sunday, the measure would extend funding through December 20th, which would help Congress avoid the election period and buy time until the end of the year and through to the holiday break to pass a 2025 spending bill after reckoning with a tight budget environment.

Procedures The House is expected to consider the CR by mid of the week. It does not have the SAVE Act but the short-term bill has $231 million in extra money for the Secret Service after the most recent alleged assassination attempt on Trump’s life on Sept. 15.

Five weeks before the scheduled general elections, Johnson and other GOP leaders are still trying to dissuade their party from causing a shutdown. The swing-district Republicans believe that it would be a bad idea since their side is likely to be held accountable by the voters.

Anyway, in my view, it is rather galactically stupid to carry out a government shutdown even if there is an election out there. That picture is even bleaker before an election. It’s self-eliminating as a party if we do that right before an election,” Rep. Mike Garcia, California Republican and one of nearly four dozen House contenders from districts where control of the lower chamber may hinge. “So we should not shut the government down.”

Faced with the similar questions, Garcia said whether Trump is making it harder to avoid a shutdown is for Johnson to decide.

“All that of it, it’s between him and the speaker,” he said. “Having said so, to be able to call his play, is the role of the speaker.”

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., who also faces a competitive race, said: “The leadership said closing down the government is counterproductive in terms of electoral politics as well as governance.”

Johnson’s CR should pass the House easily — with support from a sizable GOP and Democratic contingent. There is, however, a group of conservatives determined to vote no.

“If it’s a clean CR into the lame duck, I’m not gonna be supporting it,” said Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., a Trump ally and member of the far-right Freedom Caucus. “This issue should be pushed to next year so the next president and his team can think through how best to handle the finances of the nation moving forward.”

Senate Democratic leader Schumer took the procedural steps last week to ready the Senate for a vote on the spending bill, the upper chamber having shown repeatedly that it is ready to intervene if the lower chamber Republicans fizzle out again.

“Unfortunately, time is not something that Congress has at the moment,” Schumer said in the floor Thursday. “And instead of doing the bipartisan work everyone knows is required for avoiding a shutdown, the House Republican leadership has wasted two weeks — two weeks — on the fallout from Donald Trump’s absurd statements on the campaign trail.”

Still, on Sunday, Schumer did not sound quite as despondent as before and confidently stated that he has been meeting with Johnson over the last four days and that they are just getting closer to the deal.

“We really now have some good news, there’s also a really good chance we can avoid the government shutdown,” he said.

Some Republicans had wanted the House to move fast for fear that a spending bill approved by the Democratic-controlled Senate could be packed with riders.

“We’re afraid if it comes up in the Senate, there will be a whole lot of stuff on it, it will be very expensive and hard to pass” in the House, said Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho., an Appropriations Committee “cardinal” who leads one of the government-funding panel’s subcommittees.

If Congress achieves its goal of passing the new House CR before the Oct 1 deadline, they get another shutdown battle in December. Those in support of the new Dec.20 wish that the nearness of the Christmas holiday and the last working day for Congress, will make the members set aside some political differences and work.