Since the last deadline, the U.S. House of Representatives has a new Speaker — but the threat of a government shutdown remains.
The last government shutdown five years ago lasted for more than a month. Now, new House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana is proposing a two-part short-term government funding extender. It would fund some programs and agencies through Jan. 19 and others through Feb. 2. The deadline for a deal is Friday.
“We’re working earnestly on that, we certainly want to avoid a government shutdown,” Johnson said. “It’s a dangerous time around the world right now, we recognize that, and we’re doing our job.”
Speaking on WAMC’s Congressional Corner, Democratic Congressman Richard Neal of Massachusetts’ 1st district said a short-term extension is possible. The ranking member of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee spoke Nov. 8
“Let’s take a little bit of the emotion out of where we find ourselves,” he said. “Let the negotiators continue their work and then proceed to a January funding deadline, largely because I think that you will avoid the anger of what happens here when people feel backed up and backed into the holidays.”
Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, speaking with reporters last week, said a Republican House proposal to tie aid for Israel to cuts to the IRS is a bad sign.
“It was just a signal that he’s not interested in common sense bipartisan getting things done,” she said. “It’s a lot disappointing and worrisome. So, I don’t know. We could have a shutdown.”
A short-term across-the-board extension was approved at the end of September, a package that wound up costing Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy his leadership post.
The latest GOP proposal drops funding for aid to Ukraine, Israel and money for the southern border requested by President Biden. The White House dismissed the plan and said it’s a recipe “for more Republican chaos.”
Whatever happens by the weekend, it’ll be a test for this term’s second House Speaker. Neal, who has been in Congress since 1989, says he barely knows Johnson.
“I really don’t, and I also can say that I think probably 90 percent of the members of the House of Representatives didn’t know who Mike Johnson was when he was elected, other than an occasional hello in the hallway. I had no idea that he was even in the Republican leadership. I don’t think that he was a very forceful personality and I think on the Democratic side, we were all very surprised. But it also was sort of like Etch-a-Sketch. I think Republicans needed somebody who was non-controversial without much of a track record and that they could, at least in a formless way, rally around.”
While the far-right Freedom Caucus has pushed the House closer to a shutdown, Hudson Valley Republicans from swing districts, like first-termer Mike Lawler of the 17th district, contend a shutdown is not acceptable. Lawler spoke on NPR before the last deadline.
“The spending levels that this administration would like to continue at are not going to happen. And so that's, you know, a big part of what this debate and discussion is about. But ultimately, we're going to have to find compromise both within the conference and certainly working with the Senate and the White House to get to final appropriations bills. That's the objective,” he said.
The deadline is Friday.
