Government shutdown: House hardliners complicate endgame
House Speaker Mike Johnson is running into trouble with his caucus as he tries to advance a Senate-approved measure to reopen most of the government that was shut down Saturday morning. However, the opposition is expected to melt down after the meeting with some opponents at the White House on Monday.
House Rules Committee It is meeting on Monday evening to discuss the measure that will finance a large segment of the government, which is the first step in presenting the bill to Parliament. The bill was approved in the Senate on Friday after Democrats eliminated funding for the Department of Homeland Security and replaced it with two weeks of temporary funding for the agency; this was an amendment that required the House to reapprove the measure.
Because Democrats did not help Johnson and the GOP fast-track the measure, he will likely have to work with his own slim majority to advance the bill when it reaches the chamber for a critical preliminary vote as early as Monday night. So far, at least two Republicans have warned they won’t support the bill unless it includes a controversial voter ID measure. SAVE ActIt’s a new hurdle for Johnson, who aims to end the shutdown. And the Republican majority narrowed Monday after Democrat Christian Menefee was sworn in to represent the Houston area after being elected in a special election on Saturday.
“I have spoken clearly: The SAVINGS Act/Save America Act should be added to the rules on these appropriations bills and sent back to the Senate for a vote,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., said in a statement Sunday. send to x. “This is my price for a ‘yes’ vote.”
But on Monday night, Luna said after a meeting with the White House that he was moving toward supporting the measure in a procedural vote.
“We’re moving in that direction based on our current discussions,” Luna told reporters at the Capitol Monday night, saying he was comfortable with how the Senate would consider the voter ID bill. “Obviously we want a vote in the Senate on voter ID, and I think we’ll get that done.”
But Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., another opponent who called for the SAVINGS Act’s inclusion earlier in the day, appears to be probing.
“Republicans in the House should not let Schumer dictate the terms of government funding,” Burlison said, referring to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y). “If the Dems want to play games, no spending package should pass the House without the inclusion of the SAVINGS Act; securing American elections is non-negotiable.”
Burlison later Monday. sent to x “The Senate van is just as bad as when it left the House, full of Democratic earmarks and a $5 billion refugee welfare fund.”
“I was no then, and no now,” he said.
President Donald Trump on Monday urged Congress to hurry up and send him the spending package for him to sign into law.
“We must open up the government, and I hope all Republicans and Democrats will join me in supporting this Bill and send it to my desk WITHOUT DELAY,” he said. Post on Truth SocialHe said the House of Representatives should pass the Senate version without additional changes.
At the White House on Monday, Trump told reporters he thought Congress was “pretty close to a solution.”
But Democrats won’t make the process easier. The House must approve the rule before it can vote on the key measure and send it to the White House to be signed into law.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (DY) said at a news conference Monday that he did not expect Democrats to support the rule when he took the floor from the Rules Committee. Democrats called for more restrictions on immigration enforcement after federal agents in Minneapolis shot and killed two US citizens.
“Republicans are in the majority in this institution,” Jeffries said. “If they have too much power, then go enforce your own rule.”
The spending package was approved by the ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, D-Conn. It received support from a key Democrat, with Rosa DeLauro saying Monday she would support the bill in the chamber. But he did not say whether he would support the rule.
“I will support this package,” DeLauro said.
DeLauro said passing the bill would give Democrats “leverage” to secure the changes to immigration enforcement that Democrats are seeking.
“If we don’t do this, we won’t be able to provide the pressure that is needed,” DeLauro said.
“Every officer in the field in Minneapolis,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote in X post Monday afternoon. equipped with body cameras. Democrats pushed for body cameras during spending bill negotiations.
The demands leave Johnson facing a tightrope walk. Without support from Democrats, he would have a slim one-vote majority to advance anything along party lines. But adding the SAVES Act to the measure could kill the bill in the Senate, and it would need to be reapproved with at least 60 votes to avoid filibustering.
Schumer said if the SAVES Act is added, the bill would expire when it reaches the Senate.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the SAVE Act would impose Jim Crow-type laws across the country, and it’s dead when it reaches the Senate,” Schumer said Monday. he said. “If House Republicans add the SAVINGS Act to the bipartisan appropriations package, it would lead to another prolonged shutdown of the Trump government.”
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