Divided House GOP struggles to avoid a government shutdown

 Divided House GOP struggles to avoid a government shutdown

Time is running out to prevent a funding lapse on Oct. 1 as Donald Trump and JD Vance egg on a fight with Democrats. Some Republicans are leery of a shutdown.

House Speaker Mike Johnson is working to corral support for a government funding bill.

WASHINGTON — Divided House Republicans stumbled last week in their effort to pass Speaker Mike Johnson’s bill to fund the government.

They’ll take another crack at a stopgap funding measure this week with just 15 days remaining until money runs out — and growing concerns about a federal government shutdown, including among top Republicans who worry about the political fallout for their party so close to the Nov. 5 election.

“A government shutdown is always a bad idea, at any time,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters.

Johnson, R-La., is “going to have to get the votes — and he’s in the majority, so he’s got to figure out what the right combination is,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. “It’s sort of like a Rubik’s Cube.”

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Government shutdown looms over Congress as deadline fast approaches

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Cornyn, who is running to be the next Senate GOP leader, didn’t express a preference on the length or details of a stopgap bill, saying only: “I’m for keeping the lights on. That would be my main goal.”

Johnson worked through the weekend, reaching out to various factions in his 220-member GOP conference and trying to find a path forward on a short-term funding bill before the government shuts down at 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 1. The speaker’s initial strategy had called for a six-month continuing resolution (CR) tied to the SAVE Act, legislation backed by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump requiring proof of citizenship to vote.

But Johnson and the whip team couldn’t muster the GOP votes needed to pass that package, and the speaker abruptly yanked the bill off the floor on Wednesday just hours before a scheduled vote.

Johnson’s task is complicated by Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, both egging on a fight that could lead to a government shutdown.

The House bill’s six-month time frame, while favored by conservatives, is opposed by some senior Republicans.

Some conservative hard-liners said they were adamantly opposed to supporting any CRs, while powerful Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said he wouldn’t back the CR because it would halt increases in Pentagon funding for half a year.    

It’s unclear whether Johnson this week will try to tweak the SAVE Act approach or try something entirely different.