The federal government could be shutting down by March 1 if the two parties cannot agree to and pass a funding bill. The main actor to this will be House Speaker Mike Johnson, who will have to negotiate with the White House, Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer, and Democrat House Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Because of the media’s strong bias towards Democrats, Republicans will have to fight an uphill battle to convince the American people of their position. Democrats generally want to fund their various causes Politico reports:
Speaker Mike Johnson told House Republicans on a private conference call Friday night that their disunity has ceded leverage to Democrats ahead of the government shutdown deadline next week, according to two people on the call.
Johnson and the House’s top Republican funding negotiators plan to spend the weekend trying to reach a final agreement with Democrats on the first four spending bills set to expire at midnight on March 1, now a week away. As the speaker works to defeat policy demands from Democrats and secure GOP priorities in those measures, he acknowledged that his deal-making power is undermined by the fact that a contingent of House Republicans now routinely blocks GOP measures from being debated with a simple-majority bar for passage.
Republicans could use this opportunity to fund border security while negotiating for Democrats’ own demands. Historically, Republicans have fared poorly when attempting to cut spending in a split government. Attempting a grand plan to cut the national debt right now could backfire. The Hill continues:
McHenry, chair of the Financial Services Committee, called the current shutdown threat “a preventable disaster” — one that might have been avoided if party leaders had moved the spending bills late last year instead of kicking the process into an election year.
He’s urging Johnson to resist the ultimatums from his conservative wing and move forward with whatever agreements emerge from the talks between appropriators, who have been working furiously through the holiday recess to finalize their bills in time for the first deadline next Friday.
Donald Trump himself has generally backed negotiated deals, and will likely pressure Republicans in the House to do the same. Delivering real benefits to the American people, like a secure border, could raise Republicans’ chance to win in November.
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