House GOP leaders unveil plan to fund the government

Washington — House GOP leaders on Tuesday announced a plan to fund the government, unveiling legislation that would keep the government funded through Nov. 21, while providing funds for additional security to lawmakers and other officials in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said the bill is not “partisan” but a “short-term, clean continuing resolution that will keep the government funded and operating at current levels while we continue all this work and doing our jobs and getting the remaining bills done.” 

The speaker said a Friday vote is expected in the House, giving lawmakers the standard 72 hours to review the legislation. 

The House Rules Committee planned to take up the legislation Tuesday afternoon. 

Lawmakers have a Sept. 30 deadline. But party leaders appeared far apart even as the legislation was unveiled Monday. Adding to the pressure, Congress is scheduled to be in recess next week for Rosh Hashanah. 

Democrats have pushed for bipartisan negotiations on the bill, demanding that enhanced tax credits for Americans who purchase health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace be extended. The subsidies were originally passed in 2021 during the pandemic and extended in 2022 for another three years. 

Johnson has dismissed the inclusion of an extension in the short-term funding bill, saying it’s “a December policy issue, not a September funding issue.” 

With a narrow Republican majority in the House, Republicans could approve a funding measure without support from Democrats, though it would require near-unanimous approval from the GOP conference. And already a handful of Republicans have pledged to oppose the measure. 

Getting the measure through the Senate is another story. Though Republicans also have a majority in the upper chamber, with 53 seats, most legislation requires a 60-vote threshold to advance, making the support of at least seven Democrats necessary. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, has argued that a “clean” extension of government funding would “ensure there is no reason for Democrats to oppose this bill and delay passage.” He cited Democrats’ demands during previous funding fights that any extension be free of divisive policy measures and current funding levels maintained. 

“Leader Thune wants to wonder what has changed?” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said on the Senate floor Monday. “A lot.” 

Schumer cited the passage of a massive tax and spending bill earlier this year that included cuts to Medicaid and food assistance programs, the president’s tariffs and the cancellation of previously-appropriated funding by Congress. 

On Monday, President Trump put pressure on Republicans to fall in line on a clean continuing resolution, claiming in a post on Truth Social that Democrats “want the Government to shut down.”

“In times like these, Republicans have to stick TOGETHER to fight back against the Radical Left Democrat demands, and vote ‘YES!’ on both Votes needed to pass a Clean CR this week out of the House of Representatives,” Mr. Trump said.  

In wake of Kirk’s assassination last week, lawmakers attached an additional $30 million in funding for their security to the bill, along with $58 million that the White House requested for executive and judicial branches. Johnson outlined Sunday on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that he has been speaking with members and “trying to calm the nerves to assure them that we will make certain that everyone has a level of security that’s necessary.”

The speaker said House GOP leaders were “evaluating all the options” to ensure resources will be available for lawmakers’ residential security and personal security. But he noted that “it does take a certain measure of courage to step out and to lead.”‘