Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) faces a daunting task of rallying his Republican conference, swaying holdouts, and bringing a short-term spending bill to the floor by the end of this week, ahead of a government shutdown.
Republicans released bill text for the continuing resolution on Tuesday. Under the 72-hour rule, this would put the legislation up for a vote on Friday afternoon. But with Congress set to go on a weeklong recess for Rosh Hashanah next week, and a deadline of Sept. 30, the speaker is looking to push the vote up to Thursday.
“I would do it as soon as there’s a consensus to move it,” Johnson told reporters. “There will be a couple of guys who will insist, probably, at least it goes to late Thursday. But at the latest, we’d be doing it Friday morning.”
Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) told reporters he expected a vote Thursday or Friday, noting that “some of our members still have questions.” Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris (R-MD), who has advocated for a full-year CR, said he didn’t mind voting Friday morning.
“It’s close,” Harris said when asked about respecting the 72-hour rule. “We all know what this is about. This is not that complicated, the bill.”
If the bill passes the House this week, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) indicated he would keep the upper chamber in session over the weekend.
The speaker and Republicans have insisted the 91-page CR is “clean,” a term for keeping spending levels flat.
But the bill does include anomalies from the White House: a $30 million increase for a law enforcement mutual aid fund, a $58 million request from the Trump administration for security increases for the executive and judicial branches, and a $1 billion funding fix for Washington, D.C.’s budget.
At least four Republicans have come out against the CR: Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Victoria Spartz (R-IN), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and Warren Davidson (R-OH). The House has a two-vote margin, so Johnson must flip at least two of the Republicans in order to pass the CR along party lines.
Davidson told reporters Tuesday evening that he is now “undecided” after the text came out. He said he wants a commitment from leadership on the next steps for the funding process.
“I don’t want there to be a shutdown, but I don’t want there to be a lot more spending,” Davidson said. “So it kinda depends on what the plan is.”
He said he’d like to see leadership commit to working on instructions for a second reconciliation bill between now and Nov. 20. Davidson also said he’d like to see the savings from the first “big, beautiful bill” go toward protecting Social Security.
“I’ve been trying to get leadership to run that play since December,” he added.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Greene, Massie, and Spartz for comment on the CR.
Johnson already used up considerable energy swaying holdouts on Tuesday to vote for a procedural rule that included language to block any effort to terminate President Donald Trump’s tariffs until the end of March 2026.
The rule almost failed, however, when six Republicans halted action on the floor by initially voting against the procedural measure. Rule votes, historically a test of party loyalty, began to fail more regularly under the Kevin McCarthy and Johnson speakerships. Before that, it had been decades since the House had seen a failure on the procedural hurdle.
Johnson has faced six rule vote failures under his speakership, with the most recent on July 15.
The rule stayed open for over 40 minutes as leadership worked to sway back Reps. Jay Obernolte (R-CA), Kevin Kiley (R-CA), Don Bacon (R-NE), and Tom McClintock (R-CA). Massie and Spartz were the remaining two to vote against the rule, but leadership did not attempt to sway them to a yes.
Eventually, Obernotle, Bacon, and McClintock flipped their votes to yes, allowing the rule to pass.
Afterwards, McClintock said on X that the power to impose tariffs should be restored to Congress.
“I ultimately voted yes only after the Speaker agreed: 1) To modify the extension to January 31 in a rule to be brought to the floor this week and 2) to immediately convene a working group within the Republican conference to address the tariff issue, including possible measures to modify existing policy and clarify Congress’s role in setting that policy,” McClintock said.
Scalise confirmed to reporters that the new date for the tariff restrictions will be at the end of January. That language will be part of a rule vote held on Wednesday.
Bacon told the Washington Examiner that he understood Republican leaders didn’t want Democrats to bring tariff resolutions to the floor, but that the holdouts wanted to “get their attention.”
“Our response was, what are we working on regarding tariffs,” Bacon said. “Let’s be proactive.”
Democrats lock arms against CR, leaving Johnson to fend alone
If Johnson is hoping for an easy passage, he won’t get any assistance from Democrats.
Top Senate and House Democratic appropriators released statements against the CR, arguing that the process has been partisan and Republicans have failed to come to the negotiating table.
“For the last few days, we have been working with Chairs Cole and Collins on a bipartisan, short-term continuing resolution,” Appropriations ranking members Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) said in a statement. “We stand ready to continue down this path that would give us time to complete full-year bills, if Speaker Johnson backs away from this partisan move.”
“Speaker Johnson and Leader Thune need to finally come to the table to negotiate with Democratic leadership on healthcare, lowering the cost of living, and other critical issues — something they have outright refused to do for weeks,” the Democrats added.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said during a press conference on Thursday that the CR is a “dirty piece of legislation.”
Johnson’s only allies could be a handful of conservative Democrats, who often cross party lines due to their purple or red-leaning districts or states. But Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), a vulnerable House Democrat, told the Washington Examiner he is a “no” on the spending deal.
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Republicans have been unable to include language to address the expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits or reforms to Medicaid. Johnson has said the expiring credits are a “December policy problem,” not one that should be part of funding negotiations, despite some of their centrist flank urging leadership to take action.
“I’ve read it. It sounds very reasonable, but it’s missing healthcare,” Cuellar said. “So all we need is healthcare in there, and we’ll be good.”
David Sivak contributed to this report.
