Republicans Divided Over Next Steps to End US Shutdown

Members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus and at least one influential Republican chairman are pushing for a long-term stopgap spending bill as part of their strategy to end the ongoing US government shutdown.

Their push runs counter to comments from House Speaker Mike Johnson and members of the powerful appropriations committee, who have said they want to negotiate individual spending bills for fiscal year that started Oct. 1. That would likely require another short-term bill to grant lawmakers enough time to finalize the comprehensive legislation.

Republicans remain united behind a short-term bill to fund the government until Nov. 21 — a plan that Democrats have repeatedly blocked in the Senate. But GOP lawmakers acknowledge that deadline is rapidly approaching and quickly need to develop a new plan to fund the government past that date.

The party has so far presented a united front, blaming Democrats for the weeks-long impasse, but the lack of consensus on coming up with a longer-term strategy risks making it even more difficult to resolve the shutdown.

A long-term continuing resolution, potentially extending until after next year’s mid-term elections, would freeze spending at current levels set while Joe Biden was president.

But it’s unlikely to appease congressional Democrats, who have demanded an extension of Affordable Care Act premium subsidies as their price for reopening the government.

Representative Jason Smith, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, told Bloomberg Television that Republicans in both chamber are floating a stopgap funding bill that extends to December 2026 and said he would support a longer term stopgap measure.

The proposal is something that Smith said he’s been hearing in conversations from senators and from House members.

“We just need to make sure that the government is open and serving the American people,” the Missouri Republican said on Wednesday.

A stopgap running into December 2026 would go beyond the end of the fiscal year, a historically long measure keeping agency budgets running on autopilot.

A formal proposal would need to be proposed by members of the appropriations committee, which oversee budget and spending matters. The deal would also require the backing of Democrats in the Senate.

House Freedom Caucus members have been advocating a long-term continuing resolution because they argue it would give White House Budget Director Russ Vought flexibility to continue unilaterally cutting spending already appropriated by Congress. President Donald Trump has equated Vought to the powerful Star Wars villain Darth Vader.

Johnson told reporters earlier Wednesday that his goal is to complete all the bills but that the shutdown is making the prospect of completing them more dicey. Appropriations Committee member Mike Simpson, appearing on stage with Johnson, praised him for supporting the completion of the bills and he told reporters a full year stopgap would be damaging to the government because it would leave outdated programs in place.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said he would like to avoid a date right before a major holiday such as Christmas of this year.

--With assistance from Caitlin Reilly, Jack Fitzpatrick, Joe Mathieu and Tyler Kendall.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Alicia Diaz in Washington at adiaz243@bloomberg.net;
Erik Wasson in Washington at ewasson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Megan Scully at mscully32@bloomberg.net

Laura Davison

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