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Bloomberg
House Republicans announced a plan to pass a two-week extension of federal government funding
without Democratic votes and avoid a shutdown on December 8.
The legislation would push the next deadline to the Friday before Christmas, giving House and Senate lawmakers time to knit together their respective tax-cutting bills
into a single piece of legislation to present to President Donald Trump.
“Continuing funding for federal operations is critical to our nation’s stability, our economy, and for the well-being of the American people,†Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen of New Jersey, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said in a statement. “It is a necessary step to ensure the programs and services that all Americans rely on are maintained and available to all,†Frelinghuysen said.
Representative Richard Hudson, a North Carolina Republican, said that the leadership team planned to press rank-and-file members to vote for the funding extension without any extraneous provisions that could cause delays. A handful of conservatives, including Representatives Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Jim Jordan of Ohio, had said earlier that they wouldn’t vote for it.
The short-term spending bill, known as a continuing resolution, would still need support from some Democrats in the Senate, where 60 votes will be required to advance the measure and Republicans have only 52 members. But being able to get it through the House by relying just on the Republican majority
removes some Democratic leverage to press to include other issues.
DEADLINE SET
The December 8 deadline was set in September when Trump agreed with Democratic leaders to fund the government and suspend the debt limit for just three months. Republicans usually need a bipartisan agreement on stopgap measures, even in the House were they have a solid majority, because many conservatives strongly oppose short-term solutions that leave the
military operating under previous funding levels.
Now, however, Republicans bet that putting all their energy into a legislative win on tax cuts will convince enough of their own members to push the spending negotiation off. The House passed its version of the tax legislation in November, and the Senate wrapped up its measure. A conference committee, which could begin meeting in days, will reconcile the two versions into a final bill that must be passed by both chambers before heading to Trump for his signature.
TAX NEGOTIATIONS
The strategy for the funding measure grew in part from the
complicated coalition that Republican leaders have to build for their tax overhaul.
As part of the negotiation to convince moderate Republican senators like Susan Collins of Maine to support the tax bill, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky promised that a bipartisan proposal to stabilize health-insurance markets would be attached to must-pass
legislation — like a spending bill
to avoid a government shutdown
— before the end of the year.
Collins made the demand because the Senate tax bill would end
the Obamacare mandate that individuals have health coverage, which is forecast to make insurance
premiums rise.
The leading health proposal, from Republican Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Democrat Patty Murray of Washington, is unpopular in the House, and Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin said as recently as November that he doesn’t support it. Attaching the bipartisan health-care bill to a stopgap spending bill would risk enraging conservatives.