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Speaker Johnson's government funding play hits the rocks within House GOP
By Elizabeth Elkind
Published November 19, 2024
House Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan for a short-term bill to kick the government funding debate into early next year is getting a rocky reception from various corners of the House GOP.
"That's not my preference at all," Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., President-elect Donald Trump’s former Interior secretary, told Fox News Digital.
Zinke said a short-term bill that kicks the fiscal year (FY) 2025 government spending fight into early next year could impede Trump’s goal of immediately implementing his agenda in the first 100 days of the new administration.
"You’ve always heard the first 100 days is extremely important, and it is. But to be bogged down in the first 100 days dealing with the issues of last Congress, I think it unfortunately doesn't provide the runway," Zinke said.
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House Speaker Mike Johnson, left, signaled the House could seek to punt the government funding fight into the new year, when President-elect Donald Trump takes office. (Getty Images)
Johnson told "Fox News Sunday," "We’re running out of clock. Dec. 20 is the deadline. We’re still hopeful that we might be able to get that done, but if not, we’ll have a temporary measure, I think, that would go into the first part of next year and allow us the necessary time to get this done."
He said a short-term extension of this year’s funding, called a continuing resolution (CR), would benefit Republicans by kicking the spending fight into a period when the GOP controls both Congress and the White House.
Other Trump allies, like Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., are also advocating for a short-term bill to give Republicans full control over this year's fight.
However, several rank-and-file Republicans like Zinke suggested that dealing with the previous administration’s issues could hinder Trump’s aim of a productive first 100 days.
On the other side of the House GOP, hardliners who previously opposed a CR on principle signaled they would not budge this time, either.
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Rep. Ryan Zinke is among the Republicans who want Congress to wrap up the current funding debate as soon as possible. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
"I really have to read things before I say whether I'm going to vote on them or not," Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., told Fox News Digital. "I have never really voted for any CR, so it's hard for me to support in the first place."
House and Senate negotiators have done little bicameral work to fund the government for the current fiscal year. Instead, congressional leaders chose to extend the previous deadline of Sept. 30 through late December.
It has caused frustration among some House Republicans who have pushed for Congress to fulfill its duties of setting new fiscal spending directives for FY 2025.
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"We should have got our business done before," Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Ohio, told reporters on Monday evening.
Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., suggested kicking the debate into next year could hamper Trump’s ability "to hit the ground running," but saw little other choice left, given the short amount of time before the Dec. 20 deadline.
Others, like Zinke and Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, are still pushing for a full spending package addressing the current fiscal year’s spending.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is skeptical of CRs. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
"The smartest thing that I believe that we can do as a conference would be to do an end-of-the year package to clean the entire decks for President Trump when he comes in," Miller said.
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"If we were able to put an end-of-the-year package together and finish the appropriations process, which is our main job in Congress, then the president can get going in January with his agenda and his legislation."
One senior GOP lawmaker pointed out that a partial government shutdown is a "high probability" if Republicans can’t all get on board with a CR, assuming Democrats do not support one either.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., a member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, said when asked about Johnson’s tentative plan, "You know I'm not a fan of CRs in any form."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/speaker-johnsons-government-funding-play-hits-rocks-within-house-gop