House Republican leaders planned to work through the night and into Friday on a Plan C for funding the government, after abandoning their deal with Democrats and failing to pass an alternative backed by President-elect Donald Trump.
Facing a government shutdown deadline at midnight Friday, Speaker Mike Johnson is under pressure to patch together a third proposal to avert a shutdown — while enacting other priorities that include more than $100 billion in disaster aid, retaining support from Trump along with a majority of House Republicans and enough Democrats to secure passage.
After last-minute objections from Trump and Elon Musk, Johnson is now forced to balance those conflicting interests ahead of a January vote to secure his speakership.
“We will regroup, and we will come up with another solution. So stay tuned,” Johnson said after the resounding defeat of his second attempt at a spending patch.
Centrist Republicans and some other GOP lawmakers are pushing for a vote on a stopgap funding measure that does not deliver on Trump’s wish to lift the debt limit. They argue that Democrats would support such an effort, coupled with an extension of “farm bill” policies and the $110 billion disaster aid package as negotiated under the initial bipartisan deal leaders rolled out earlier in the week.
“We’re going to work through the night to figure out a plan moving forward,” Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) said Thursday night, heading into Johnson’s office after the failed vote on the Trump-backed plan.
Cammack said Republicans “still have options,” adding that disaster aid is a dealbreaker for Floridians and “every single state, every district that has been impacted by weather-related issues.”
Majority Leader Steve Scalise told reporters Thursday night that leaders won’t try to pass the same Trump-endorsed bill again under a simple majority. The overwhelming defeat of the bill quashed Republican hopes of passing the measure under a lower bar than the two-thirds threshold used to fast-track action and avoid conservative opposition to an initial procedural vote.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said Republican leaders “should go back to the original” bipartisan agreement if they don’t include language to waive the debt limit in the next attempt.
“It was negotiated by so many people,” Bacon said of the initial accord that included changes to agriculture policy, rules for pharmacy benefits managers and consumer protections like forcing airlines to disclose more information on flight tickets. “We had good things in there.”
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a Johnson critic who sits on the Rules panel, is urging leadership to break up the package and vote separately on a stopgap funding bill, raising the debt limit, disaster relief and farm assistance.
“This isn’t complicated. Separate the bills and vote on them individually,” he posted on social media Thursday night.
Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), who served as Interior secretary during the first Trump administration, told POLITICO that he is offering “caution” to Republicans who opposed the new stopgap, telling them that Trump “is the quarterback” and “he called a play.”
Zinke huddled on the floor with Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), a Republican who voted against the plan.
Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) said lawmakers need to focus on proposals that can attract 218 votes of support in the House and 60 votes in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
“At some point, let’s just put on our big boy, big girl pants,” said the South Dakotan. “Ideas that don’t move us in that direction are not helpful.”
Democrats will also be assessing what’s next, with a caucus meeting scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said Republicans haven’t approached her about negotiating a bipartisan solution.
“Let’s go. Let’s get it done. Just 24 hours ago we were there. Just go back to the original deal,” DeLauro said after the failed vote.
In the Senate, Republicans are waiting to see what the fractured House can produce. “I don’t know what the plan is now,” incoming Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Thursday night.
Jordain Carney, Meredith Lee Hill, Daniella Diaz, Ursula Perano and Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.
