House GOP prepares stopgap bill to avert Nov. 18 shutdown

WASHINGTON — House Republicans are preparing a temporary spending bill to avert a Nov. 18 government shutdown and could vote on it this week, lawmakers said after leaving a meeting with newly installed Speaker Mike Johnson.

One option would create two new “funding cliff” dates of Dec. 7 and Jan. 19, according to Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota, who attended the meeting.

Under this plan, some parts of the government would be kept open through Dec. 7 to allow the House and Senate to work out full-year funding for those agencies. The rest of the agencies would be funded through Jan. 19.

To foster a deal, the measure, known as a continuing resolution, would put agencies that have aroused animosity among some conservatives, like the Justice Department, on the longer timeline, while departments that have more widespread support, such as Veterans Affairs, would get the shorter deadline.

The Democratic reaction to the stopgap proposal will largely hinge on whether the GOP tries to attach immediate spending cuts or policy provisions to it or not. House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar was skeptical of the two-step idea. “Sounds like they want multiple shutdowns spread out over different calendar years,” he said

Rep. Bob Good of Virginia, a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus, advocated adding items that the caucus favors.

“We’ll focus on passing our spending bills. And if we need a little bit of time on that, I think you’ll see very short spending bills with some leverage points put in there for wins for the American people,” he said Monday night.

Other options under discussion are extending all agencies to Jan. 19, or negotiating a compromise with Senate Democrats, who are keen on attaching assistance to Ukraine, according to a lawmaker briefed on the plan. The lawmaker would not say whether Republicans would try to attach demands such as increased border security to any of the stopgap bills.

Johnson and party leaders plan to discuss options for the design of the legislation at a Tuesday morning closed-door meeting and intend to avert the internal dissent that brought down then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy after he allowed a vote on the last stopgap spending bill ahead of the Oct. 1 shutdown deadline.

McCarthy in September was unable to get enough Republican votes for a stopgap that would have temporarily cut spending by 30% while making changes to immigration policies. In the face of an imminent shutdown, he allowed the House to pass a 48-day funding bill with Democratic support.

Some lawmakers said they were eager to have the House vote on a stopgap to prevent the looming shutdown.

“We’ve got to get on it, like now,” said Rep. Lisa McClain of Michigan.

Although a vote could take place this week, the chamber’s No. 3 Republican, Tom Emmer, said next week was more likely.