House Republicans plan to vote Friday morning on a short-term measure to fund the government as a shutdown deadline nears, hoping to keep pressure on Democrats who have signaled they will vote to shut down the government if Republicans don’t cave to Democratic demands to restore cuts to Medicaid and extend Obamacare subsidies set to expire at the end of the year.
House Speaker Mike Johnson expressed cautious optimism Thursday that Republicans will pass their 52-day continuing resolution on Friday — a week ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline to fund the government.
“I think we have the votes and I think it’s just very unfortunate the Democrats are trying to play partisan games when we’re in good faith trying to fund the government,” Johnson told reporters as he arrived at the Capitol on Thursday. “So, this is a clean, short-term CR. There’s no tricks to this at all. It’s a total good faith effort to allow appropriators on both sides of the aisle to continue their work. I don’t know how they can object to it. I really don’t.”
With a narrow 219-213 edge over Democrats, Johnson can afford to lose just two Republican defectors in a vote on passage. Several hardline Republicans have signaled they intend to vote against it — though the speaker has repeatedly overcome last-minute holdouts — even if President Donald Trump’s arm-twisting is required to bring the final votes to heel.
The funding plan proposes $30 million in additional member security over a more than seven-week stretch — giving each member of Congress around $7,500 each week to spend on security — more than double their own congressional salary. The package also includes $58 million to meet the Trump administration’s request for supplemental funding for the executive and judicial branches.
That funding supplants a pilot funding program that lawmakers had utilized for member security in the wake of the shooting targeting state lawmakers in Minnesota over the summer.
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has expressed opposition to the funding bill and Democrats are likely to follow his lead and vote against it.
“We will not support a partisan spending bill that Republicans are trying to jam down the throats of the American people that continues to gut health care. No one who is following what Republicans have done to rip away health care of the American people can reasonably suggest that responsible legislators should do anything other than push back aggressively to protect the health care of the American people,” Jeffries told reporters this week.
Senate and House Democrats unveiled a counter funding proposal that would only extend government funding until Oct. 31 and include health care-related proposals like rolling back Medicaid cuts in Trump’s megabill that passed earlier this year. This plan is a non-starter with Republicans who control majorities in both chambers.
The GOP plan, however, presents a real challenge in the Senate — if it passes the House — requiring at least seven Democratic votes to reach 60 votes for passage.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has urged Senate Democrats to support the short-term measure, arguing the bill is a clean extension of funding.
“There’s nothing in here about President Trump,” Thune said on the Senate floor this week. “This is a clean funding resolution, bipartisan funding resolution, short-term, to allow the Appropriations Committee to do its work.”
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