House Republicans appeared eager to find a way forward to avoid a government shutdown but left a Monday morning closed-door meeting as far apart as ever on how to do it.<\/p>\n
\u2018We\u2019re kind of without a path forward,\u2019 a senior GOP aide who attended the meeting told Fox News Digital afterward. \u2018[Speaker Mike Johnson] said he doesn\u2019t want to shut down. That was his ultimate goal. So we\u2019ll see how he does that.\u2019<\/p>\n
Current government funding expires on Nov. 17. Leaders in both the House and Senate have acknowledged the need for a temporary extension of last year\u2019s spending, known as a continuing resolution (CR), to give themselves more time to make a deal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But House Republicans are divided on how to do it. It appears that two main tracks emerged in the Monday meeting \u2014 a straightforward extension, known as a \u2018clean\u2019 CR, or a \u2018laddered\u2019 approach that would stagger funding deadlines for different departments and agencies.<\/p>\n
\u2018The best thing for us is to pass a clean CR,\u2019 Rules Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., told reporters.<\/p>\n
However, Republican Study Committee Chair Kevin Hern, R-Okla., emerged from the meeting suggesting that conservative policy riders were a must-have.<\/p>\n
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., told reporters, \u2018I can tell you with some level of confidence, there is this understanding that we\u2019re going to have to do a\u2026 CR. And that\u2019s different than what we have dealt with in the past when we had Republicans who wouldn\u2019t vote for anything, right? No extension. I think that feels different now.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Most GOP lawmakers said a vote on some kind of CR would likely happen early next week.<\/p>\n
House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said he preferred a \u2018laddered approach\u2019 with two funding deadlines \u2014 one in January and another at a later date.<\/p>\n
\u2018Anything but the clean CR. Why continue [former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi\u2019s] policies, and funding the government that\u2019s given [President Biden] the lowest rating for the country in years?\u2019 Norman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rep. John Duarte, R-Calif., suggested a targeted approach to the laddered CR idea that would force the Senate and House to first compromise on the spending bills they already passed.<\/p>\n
\u2018I think that if we\u2019ve got some work done on certain appropriations bills, especially where the Senate\u2019s already done the same bills, and put them through \u2014 let\u2019s sit down and start hammering that out. Let\u2019s do a continuing resolution on the issues we haven\u2019t resolved, and let\u2019s keep the government open and get the arm wrestling underway,\u2019 Duarte said.<\/p>\n
Currently, however, only one of 12 total appropriations bills that need to be passed overlap in the House and Senate \u2014 the spending bill dealing with military construction and Veterans Affairs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There does not appear to be a plan for how to stagger priorities on the laddered CR. Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., told reporters after the meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018We\u2019re just trying to figure out where the sweet spot is,\u2019 Murphy said.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s clear, however, is that Johnson is not navigating the same fraught tensions and relationships that ousted ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was forced to work through when he passed a CR to keep the government open past the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.<\/p>\n
\u2018I think that ultimately, the leadership team has got to figure out where the votes lie,\u2019 said Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y. \u2018Shutdown is not an option.\u2019<\/p>\n
Johnson himself was vague on when the House would vote on something \u2014 or the details of what that thing is \u2014 during House GOP leadership\u2019s weekly press conference.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019m not going to show you all the cards right now. We have some very constructive, I think very positive, discussions going on,\u2019 Johnson said. \u2018I\u2019m not going to tell you when we\u2019ll bring it to the floor, but it will be in time\u2026 but trust us, we\u2019re working through the process in a way that I think that we will be proud of.\u2019<\/p>\n