House Republicans released a spending patch on Friday that would extend funding for the federal government until December.
The stopgap measure, expected to be taken up by the House next week before members leave for a monthlong recess, comes ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline to fund the government or risk a shutdown.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) confirmed plans that GOP leadership would attempt to pass a continuing resolution next week on Thursday, adding to Republicans’ already jam-packed legislative week that will see the House vote on a budget resolution for a party-line spending bill and a congressional stock trading ban.
The measure would extend funding until Dec. 4, allowing Republicans to avoid a government shutdown ahead of the November midterm elections. Government shutdowns are usually politically costly for the party in power.
Congress has seen two record-breaking government shutdowns since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, with Republican leadership hoping to avoid another as they try to maintain their majority. A record 43-day full shutdown ended last November, which preceded a 76-day partial shutdown that ended in April.
Johnson will have a challenging week ahead, as he will have to get fiscal hawks on board with the funding patch, as well as the budget resolution to send to the Senate, in an effort to unlock the reconciliation process.
The budget resolution has a top line of $95 billion in spending, and does not include instructions for offsets, a sore point for fiscal hawks who oppose spending without budgetary cuts to reduce spending levels.
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Lawmakers only have four legislative days left before their scheduled August recess, leaving them little room for error on the House floor. Johnson was forced to cancel votes two weeks in a row last month after a GOP revolt over the Senate’s inability to pass the SAVE America Act and an unfulfilled promise to vote on codifying Trump’s border policies.
GOP leadership was able to sway conservative hard-liners to vote for the legislation after promising to hold a markup of a border policy bill next week, a source familiar told the Washington Examiner.