Government Funding Bill Set for Vote in Congress

Washington — Both chambers of Congress are set to vote Thursday on a stopgap measure to keep the government funded, aiming to avoid a partial government shutdown that would otherwise take effect Saturday morning. 

"There is good news, good news," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor Wednesday night, noting that the chamber had locked in an agreement and expected to pass the continuing resolution to keep the government funded on Thursday.

"We hope that the House will take up this bill before the Friday deadline with bipartisan support," the New York Democrat said. 

After passage in the Senate, the House is expected to take up the bill on Thursday evening. House leadership announced that votes were no longer expected on Friday due to weather conditions, setting up a tight timeline to approve the stopgap measure and send it to the president's desk.

The legislation proposes to extend funding at current levels for certain government agencies until March 1, while others will be extended until March 8. This two-step deadline is a modification of the original deadline set by House conservatives in order to avoid a large omnibus spending bill to fund the government. However, it is anticipated that many members on the Republican conference's right flank will oppose the temporary measure to keep the government funded.

Facing opposition from conservative House members, Speaker Mike Johnson is once again in a difficult situation. It is likely that he does not have enough support within his narrow GOP majority to pass a funding measure with only Republican votes, or to navigate the chamber through the usual procedural votes for final passage. As a result, Johnson will once again need to rely on Democrats to keep the government funded. Therefore, he is expected to bring up the bill using a method called a suspension of the rules, which will require the support of two thirds of the chamber.

This is a similar situation to the one the Louisiana Republican faced in November. At that time, he had just been elected House speaker, replacing former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was removed from office for working across party lines to keep the government open. However, Johnson was able to maintain enough goodwill among his conference to retain his position as speaker.

Whether the same level of support exists this time around remains to be seen.