House to vote on CR funding bill as government faces likely shutdown this weekend

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Common Ground: Can Congress avoid a government shutdown?

Reps. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and Dean Phillips, D-Minn., discuss whether Congress can unite to keep the government open on ‘Special Report.’

A short-term government funding bill with uncertain odds is set to get a House vote today, as the federal government hurdles toward a likely partial shutdown this weekend. 

The House Rules Committee is meeting this morning on a combined stopgap funding bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), and border security legislation that would keep the government funded for 45 days.

It is expected to cut government spending by about 8% for that duration and include measures from the House GOP’s H.R. 2 border security bill, minus its eVerify provision.

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Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., speaks to reporters outside the Speakers Balcony at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 25, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters on Thursday that the bill would also create a commission to study the federal debt. 

The bill is scheduled to pass a procedural hurdle later this morning, followed by a final House-wide vote — but its success is uncertain.

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Several GOP hardliners — including Reps. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., Matt Gaetz. R-Fla., and Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., among others — are staunchly opposed to any kind of CR on principle, arguing that it just extends the previous Democrat-controlled Congress’ priorities. 

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., is seen during a House Judiciary Committee hearing in Rayburn Building on Wednesday, April 26, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

McCarthy and his allies have expressed frustration at the holdouts and accused them of giving Democrats more leverage to pass a spending bill without conservative priorities. 

"I think it'll happen. Now, whether it passes is a different story," one GOP lawmaker said of the vote. "But at least let people be on record on whether they support a shutdown and keeping the border open."

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Making matters more complicated for the speaker, however, is a letter sent to him by members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus on Thursday demanding a plan for the full fiscal year while threatening to withhold support for the CR until McCarthy provides answers.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, speaks during the House Freedom Caucus news conference to oppose the debt limit deal outside of the U.S. Capitol on May 30, 2023.  (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

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"No Member of Congress can or should be expected to consider supporting a stop-gap funding measure without answers to these reasonable questions," the letter said.

Meanwhile, the Democrat-controlled Senate is working on advancing its own CR, which could get a vote this weekend. That bill would simply extend this year's funding levels for a short duration while also providing billions for U.S. disaster relief and Ukraine aid.