Some House Republicans are threatening to block a spending package to fund most of the government, highlighting the challenges that Speaker Mike Johnson may face as he works to get the measure through the chamber and end the partial government shutdown.
The Senate last week passed a package that included five spending bills to fund a large portion of the government through the remainder of the fiscal year and a stopgap measure that would keep the Homeland Security Department funded for two weeks while lawmakers negotiated restrictions on federal immigration enforcement efforts.
Last week, Mr. Trump publicly backed the agreement, which emerged from discussions between him and Senate Democrats, and White House officials believe that the measure will pass. But federal funding lapsed on Saturday morning and will remain so until the House clears it and it can be signed into law. But House members from both parties who were not party to the negotiations are now questioning it.
As the House returned from a weeklong recess, many Republican hard-liners began to register objections. Representative Anna Paulina Luna, Republican of Florida, said that she would not vote to advance the package unless Republicans attached it to unrelated legislation that would require that U.S. citizens provide proof of citizenship before they register to vote.
“This is my price for a ‘yes’ vote,” Ms. Luna said on social media.
Representative Greg Steube, Republican of Florida, said he was opposed overall to the spending package, the product of weeks of bipartisan negotiations, arguing that it contained excessive earmarks requested by lawmakers and funded foreign aid efforts he rejects.
“I will not support that approach,” he said. “Our law enforcement and border security professionals deserve clean and responsible funding.”
Representative Eric Burlison, Republican of Missouri, told a local radio station that the spending measure, which he opposed as it moved through the House this month, “did not get better; it got worse.”
“I don’t know why they think that they’re going to be able to get all the Republicans to vote for this,” he said in an interview with KSGF, a Springfield, Mo. station.
Mr. Johnson, who has frequently needed the president to voice support to get legislation through the House, is in a particularly tight spot. On Monday evening, he is expected to swear in a Democrat who just won a special election in Texas. After that, Mr. Johnson will be able to afford just one defection on any party-line vote if all members are present.
Though some Democrats have said they will ultimately support the spending package, many oppose providing any money for the Department of Homeland Security — even a two-week stopgap measure — given the violent tactics federal agents have used in carrying out Mr. Trump’s immigration crackdown.
And even if there were enough Democratic supporters to compensate for Republican defections on the funding legislation, Mr. Johnson must pass a procedural measure to get it to the floor for a vote.
Members of the minority party do not traditionally cross the aisle to vote for such measures, even if they support the underlying bill. If Democrats refuse to in this case, Mr. Johnson will be forced to try to cobble together support within his own conference to bring up the spending package.
Michael Gold covers Congress for The Times, with a focus on immigration policy and congressional oversight.
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