House Democrats are noncommittal on how many within their conference will vote for the GOP-led spending deal as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) hopes his second attempt at a continuing resolution will make its way through the chamber.
Republicans had to scrap spending legislation that failed on the floor last week after 14 GOP members voted against a six-month continuing resolution paired with the SAVE Act, a voting integrity measure favored by hard-line conservatives.
Now, House GOP leaders are preparing for a Wednesday vote on a three-month spending deal that would push the deadline to Dec. 20 while appropriators continue negotiations over the fiscal 2025 budget. However, Democrats are unwilling to share how many in their conference will aid their GOP colleagues after doing so in February.
“Our belief is that by Speaker Johnson doing this, that he has the Republicans to pass the bill,” Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar (D-CA) said. “So we’ll work in a bipartisan way to make sure that this gets done.”
House leadership pulled the continuing resolution from the Rules Committee on Monday night to avoid the legislation being held up by hard-line conservatives on the powerful committee. Instead of being advanced under traditional House procedure, the legislation will come to the floor under the suspension of the rules requiring a two-thirds majority. Because Johnson only holds a three-seat majority, and a handful of Republicans historically vote “no” on CRs, Democratic support to pass the measure is needed.
It remains to be seen how many Democrats will help push it over the finish line. Aguilar said Democrats “haven’t whipped, to my knowledge,” on the measure, adding that “clearly, for a suspension, we need two-thirds.”
Several Democrats, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), said a CR “in this calendar year” was the preferred outcome for most Democrats. House Appropriations Committee ranking member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) told reporters that Democrats are “absolutely” happy that the continuing resolution moved from a six-month to a three-month.
“It’s mindless to carry it over to next year,” DeLauro said.
When asked if she thought the votes were there to pass the CR, DeLauro said, “We’ll see.”
Meanwhile, several GOP members are once again fuming that leadership will need to rely on Democratic votes to pass legislation.
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), who serves on the Rules Committee, told the Washington Examiner that “to need Democratic support on anything is a move back.”
As a peace offering, Johnson told Republicans on Tuesday that they would not have to vote on an omnibus at Christmas, massive spending legislation that lumps together various agency funding bills. Republicans would prefer to pass and debate the 12 appropriations bills separately, but so far, they have only managed to get through five.
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House Rules Committee ranking member Jim McGovern (D-MA) said passing spending legislation should be “one of the most basic obligations of the majority.” He would not say how many Democrats he expected to cast “yes” votes, but he said when DeLauro summarized the continuing resolution up for a vote this week, “I didn’t hear any objections.”
“We’re all going through to make sure that there’s no surprises there,” McGovern said. “But again, the Republicans can’t govern. They need us to, you know, do the most basic thing, and that is to keep the government open.”