House Republicans are inching closer together on a plan to fund the government, with a key GOP hard-liner suggesting he could tolerate a short-term punt before funding runs out Sept. 30.
Maryland Rep. Andy Harris, who chairs the House Freedom Caucus and for weeks has pushed for a year-long continuing resolution, said in a brief interview Monday he could support a shorter stopgap plan that Appropriations Chair Tom Cole is backing — if Cole has the votes.
Some in the Freedom Caucus ranks have declared themselves as “hard no” on Cole’s plan, which doesn’t currently have the votes to pass. But Harris said he would not necessarily oppose a shorter CR that would expire before the winter holidays — allowing time for more negotiations between the two parties and chambers.
“No, if they have the votes for it, I think we’ll support it, but we prefer it to be into next year,” Harris said.
Cole wants the stopgap into November, with three full-year funding bills included. Harris himself chairs an Appropriations subcommittee. Other senior appropriators have indicated they will dig in to block a longer-term stopgap into 2026.
Asked about his push for a shorter punt, Cole said Monday, “I think it is getting a little steam” and noted that talks were moving “in the right direction.”
Speaker Mike Johnson has yet to make a decision on how to handle the looming Sept. 30 expiration of government funding, with senior GOP aides believing President Donald Trump needs to publicly weigh in as well.
House GOP leaders laid out several options to fund the government in private meetings with senior Republicans Monday but mostly asked for additional input, according to three people granted anonymity to describe the conversations.
“Lot of strong agreement that we need more discussions,” one of the people said of those conversations.
While White House officials have privately noted the benefits of pushing another funding vote into next year, Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have already discussed a shorter funding punt into November or December.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday that it was “in everybody’s interest” to keep any stopgap “as clean as possible” to allow for further negotiations on full-year spending bills under a “normal appropriations process.”
He also kept the door open for a possible deal with Democrats to extend key federal health insurance subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year. Any agreement along those lines, he said, would have to have Trump’s blessing.
Thune added that the onus was on Democrats to “come forward with a solution” that would extend the subsidies at a lower cost. “This a problem … of their making,” he said, referring to the subsidies that were created under former President Barack Obama and expanded under Joe Biden.
GOP leaders and senior Republicans also discussed at their Monday meeting the need to develop a plan to address the subsidies, according to the two people. How they would address the growing political problem is still under discussion.
Harris ticked through problems with the cost of the Affordable Care Act subsidies during the meeting, which his Freedom Caucus group opposes extending. He also mentioned a straight extension of the subsidies would be crazy, given the cost and other issues.
Passing a stopgap into November could allow Republicans to continue work on their funding bills while also providing a vehicle for a possible bipartisan deal on the expiring tax credits — something that poses a serious political problem for the White House going into a midterm election year.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, warned the GOP not to take Democratic votes for granted as the shutdown deadline approaches.
“This week we need to see signs from Republicans that they are serious about avoiding a shutdown or time will run out,” he said in a floor speech. “And the American people will know Republicans will be responsible if a shutdown happens.”
