After a weekend spent with President-elect Donald Trump, Home Speaker Mike Johnson laid out a tentative plan on Sunday to maintain the federal government funded that, if handed, may tee up a funding battle within the earliest days of Trump’s second time period.
Throughout an look on “Fox Information Sunday,” Johnson mentioned if the Home can’t end particular person funding payments then “we’ll have a brief measure. I believe that may go into the primary a part of subsequent yr and permit us the mandatory time to get this completed.”
Congress should take some motion to avert a authorities shutdown earlier than Dec. 20, when present funding will expire.
However the plan Johnson outlined is much from what different Republicans in each the Home and Senate have beforehand advocated for. Many Republicans had been hopeful Congress would act through the lame duck session to fund the federal government via the tip of the fiscal yr in October.
Speaker of the Home Mike Johnson (R-OH) speaks after being reelected to his management position following the Home Republican management elections on the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill on Nov. 13, 2024 in Washington, D.C.
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Photos
How Congress proceeds within the subsequent few weeks may set the desk for what Trump’s earliest legislative actions shall be.
The Johnson plan
The plan Johnson outlined would see present authorities funding ranges prolonged via March, giving a Republican-controlled Congress the power to form a funding invoice nearly instantly after Trump assumes the presidency.
Although Johnson mentioned he’ll proceed to work to fund the federal government earlier than the December deadline, he in the end endorsed a brief time period funding invoice that may kick the deadline into subsequent spring.
“I believe that may be in the end a great transfer as a result of the nation would profit from it, as a result of then you definately’d have Republican management. And we might have a bit extra say in what these spending payments are,” Johnson instructed Fox Information.
If Congress waits till the spring to fund the federal government, Republicans will management the Home, Senate and White Home, presumably shopping for them extra leverage in negotiations, but it surely hasn’t all the time labored out that approach.
Trump was handed this kind of scenario as he entered workplace for his first time period. In December 2016, with Trump having clinched the presidency and Republicans getting ready to take management of each the Home and Senate the subsequent month, Congress determined to kick the deadline to fund the federal government to April 2017.
However that prolonged funding deadline didn’t essentially purchase Republican main wins. Although Trump did have extra potential to affect that funding invoice on account of the delay, he nonetheless ended up having to make concessions, together with a delay in funding of his border wall, with the intention to get the federal government funded in time. Congress, hamstrung by a pending funding deadline, spent a lot of Trump’s first 100 days squabbling over funding somewhat than specializing in constructing out new coverage.
Finally, Trump signed a largely bipartisan funding invoice into regulation in early Might, averting a authorities shutdown by mere hours.
Johnson’s proposal may additionally doubtlessly defend him from a public funding battle along with his far-right flank simply weeks earlier than the Home will as soon as once more vote on whether or not Johnson retains his gavel, although these members are additionally usually against short-term funding payments just like the one Johnson is pitching.
President-elect Donald Trump speaks throughout a gathering with the Home GOP convention, Nov. 13, 2024, in Washington.
Allison Robbert/AP
Trump endorsed Johnson final week to steer Home Republicans within the 119th Congress, calling him a “good man.”
Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted from his position largely due to his failure to enact price range cuts palatable to his far-right members.
Maintaining a low profile with a short-term funding extension could, due to this fact, be simply what Johnson wants headed into the speaker election.
What different Republicans need
Johnson’s pitch is in sharp distinction from what different Republicans have telegraphed in latest weeks.
Home Majority Chief Steve Scalise instructed reporters he desires to cross authorities funding via the tip of September 2025 to keep away from any delays in Trump’s first 100 days.
Senate Republicans have equally expressed curiosity in locking in a deal to maintain the federal government funded via to October.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine is the highest Republican appropriator within the Senate. Final week, earlier than Johnson outlined his plan, Collins mentioned she would proceed to advocate for Congress to fund the federal government via September with regular-order appropriations payments as an alternative of a short-term invoice just like the one Johnson is proposing.
“In my judgment that’s higher for the incoming administration as a result of that provides them a clear slate, and so they can begin specializing in the price range for Fiscal 12 months ’26,” Collins mentioned final week.
Democrats even have playing cards to play. The federal government funding deadline falls earlier than the brand new Congress is sworn in and earlier than Trump is inaugurated. With the Senate of their management, Democrats are higher positioned to barter a full-year funding invoice that locks of their priorities now than they are going to be within the new yr.
However any effort to finish a full yr’s value of funding payments will should be shortly expedited to get issues accomplished earlier than the deadline. The Senate has nonetheless not handed any of the person funding payments, and high appropriators must agree on a top-line funding invoice.
