With less than ten days until the government shuts down, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) told key Republican members of the House on Wednesday that he will decide hopefully within the next two days on a path to avert a potential government shutdown. The Republican-controlled House and Democratic-led Senate have just over a week to agree on a stopgap spending measure to keep federal agencies open after current funding expires on November 17th. Despite signs of some bipartisan talks between the chambers, Johnson has been focused on finding a solution that his 221-212 House Republican majority can accept. Johnson needs to decide quickly to ensure the House can vote on the stopgap measure by Tuesday, citing a House rule requiring legislation to undergo a 72-hour review period before voting can commence.
Johnson is currently working two different tracks. First, he is seeking consensus among House Republicans on a stopgap spending bill to prevent a government shutdown. He has floated a continuing resolution, or CR, until January 15th, but dates through April have also been discussed. Some in his conference want a CR with deep spending cuts, which has no chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate or being signed into law by President Joe Biden. The exact contours remain far from clear. At the same time, he’s pushing to pass the rest of House Republicans’ 12 individual spending bills as fast as possible. Johnson has argued that passing a stopgap bill, something many House Freedom Caucus members have been loath to do in the past will give House Republicans enough time to pass their individual appropriations bills, which include significant spending cuts. While Republicans have passed three spending bills since Johnson assumed the speakership, he has fallen well behind the ambitious schedule he set for himself while running for speaker. The House passed only two of the three spending bills Johnson originally wanted to move last week before lawmakers headed home on Friday.
For today, the Senate will continue work on the nomination of Ramon Ernesto Reyes, Jr. to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York, as well as Charlotte A. Burrows to be a Member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Brandy R. McMillion to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Michigan.
As the House continues to try to pass appropriations bills, it has begun consideration of H.R. 4664 – Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2024.
