WASHINGTON: With just days to go before a government shutdown deadline, House Republicans have released a 99-page stopgap bill they hope will reach President Trump’s desk before some government funding runs out on Friday.
It’s unclear if they have the votes to approve the plan. Republicans have tight margins in both chambers, and may need Democratic votes. Still, Congressional GOP leaders have conveyed confidence in the move, and they now have President Trump’s backing. “Conservatives will love this Bill, because it sets us up to cut Taxes and Spending in Reconciliation, all while effectively FREEZING Spending this year,” Trump wrote in a social media post this past week.
The president argues that passing this funding extension will ease the path toward enacting the rest of his legislative agenda: a massive, partisan spending plan that includes an extension of a tax cut programme passed under his first term. The bill released Saturday will fund the government through Sept. 30 and provide a slight boost to defense spending while trimming nondefense programs below 2024 budget year levels. That signals Republicans are hoping to pass the bill without substantial Democratic support.
Democrats had previously indicated that any spending changes to defence and non-defence spending would need to go in the same direction, either both increasing or both decreasing. Republicans will need to stay largely united to pass the plan with tight margins in both chambers. In the House, Speaker Mike Johnson may have only one Republican “no” to spare. Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie already said he’s planning to vote against the bill, even without seeing the text. It doesn’t include an overall 1% budget cut, a provision Massie saw included in a House Rules package under former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.Even if Speaker Johnson is able to pass the bill through the House this week without Democratic support, it will still need at least seven Democratic senators to back it in order to clear the chamber’s de facto 60-vote threshold and reach the president’s desk for a signature.
