(TotalConservative.com) – The November 17th deadline fast approaches and without the passage of a continuing resolution or “CR,” the federal government will run out of operational funding. House Freedom Caucus Republicans, considered “hard-line” or “ultra-conservative” will have tremendous power to negotiate as Speaker Mike Johnson needs every last vote in the House with only a 9-seat majority.
Democrats control the Senate, 51 to 49. A shutdown was narrowly avoided in late September by the passage of a 45-day CR.
Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) said that most people in both parties want to keep the government running and that Republicans shouldn’t be trying to “jam each other.”
House Minority Leader Hakken Jeffries (D-NY) called for CR at 2023 funding levels.
Data from Voteview.com shows that the House is more divided than ever before with there being very little overlap between Republican and Democrat votes. Republicans have been fiercely divided over those who want business as usual versus conservatives like Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) who are demanding fiscal restraint and responsibility after pandemic policies and the Ukrainian war have blown the federal debt to an all-time high.
Jeff Lewis studies political science at the University of California, Los Angeles, and manages Voteview.com. He called the current miasma in Congress unprecedented.
Speaker Mike Johnson hasn’t yet given an official position on whether he supports a CR at this point, nor what that would look like if he did. The current plan is to fund the government through January 15th, with the potential to extend the deadline to April if they can’t get all the funding bills passed in time.
Johnson told viewers of “Fox News Sunday” that they’re working on a “stopgap measure” that would give them some more time to deliberate on appropriations bills still working their way through Congress.
Freedom Caucus Republicans want to pass a dozen individual bills before resorting to a CR, but many in Congress as suggesting there simply isn’t enough time. Members of the caucus suggested they could be in favor of a CR in exchange for promises on border security and further spending cuts.
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