Some House Republicans Flirt With Working With Democrats to Keep the Government Open

Since House Republicans are unlikely to unite around their own government funding solution, some in the party are ready to take old-school measures after an embarrassing few days of GOP infighting in a race against time.

“A lot of these guys are just not going to vote for anything,” Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said of his ultraconservative colleagues. “I'm of the opinion that we need to work across the aisle because you’ve got to get the Senate's support anyway.”

House Republicans “should cut our losses at this point” and “work across the aisle and get the best deal we can,” Bacon added. “The sooner we do it, the sooner these five to 10 people become more irrelevant and we can move on.”

Bacon is among a larger group of moderate Republicans from districts President Joe Biden won in 2020 that started speaking out Tuesday about the need for something nearly unheard of in House circles these days.

“We have to find bipartisan agreement in the end,” Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., told reporters. “And so my comment to my colleagues who are holding this up is yes, we want to be able to advance conservative Republican principles, ideas and budget/appropriations bills. But you still need to ultimately find compromise to get a final product.”

Republicans can’t continue to ignore the fact that Democrats control the Senate and the White House, party moderates underscored, with the Sept. 30 deadline to avert a government shutdown fast approaching. 

“We are one half of one third of this government and we have to work together,” Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore., said. “We don't want to be outliers. We want to be team players. But at some point, we have to step up and fight for the American people. And that's what we intend to do. Nobody wants a government shutdown.”

Worries of a Senate Jam

House Republicans crafted a short-term government funding plan that more than a dozen ultraconservatives quickly rallied against. Opposition was so fierce that GOP leaders had to call off a vote on a procedural rule to bring the measure to the floor for consideration.

Rep. Byron Donalds, one of the conservatives who negotiated the plan, warned that House Republicans failing to unite around a proposal would reduce their chamber’s leverage in eventual negotiations with the Senate. 

“Those guys over there, they want to spend more money,” the Florida Republican yelled down the marble-lined corridor that leads to the Senate floor. “They don't want to change a single thing. And they only want to be worried about presidential elections and elections for the Senate.”

Republicans, Donalds argued, are trying to cut spending and fix issues at the southern border that he accused President Joe Biden of neglecting.  

“So if the Senate jams us because of, frankly, parochial, silly infighting amongst House Republicans, the American people suffer,” Donalds warned of a cross-chamber government funding fight.

Luckily for House Republicans who want to avoid that scenario, the Senate is not ready to step in. 

“Our first job is to get the House to pass something,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters Tuesday. “We’ll see if they can. But we need a bipartisan bill in each body.”

Lawler took aim at Schumer for not showing more leadership.

“He's totally M.I.A.,” Lawler said of his home state senator. “This is a guy who's the majority leader from New York totally absent on immigration as his state is being overwhelmed, totally absent on a shutdown, totally absent on appropriations. You know, he runs his mouth all the time about what he's going to do and then he can't pass anything through the Senate.”

Changes to GOP Plan

House Republican leaders have not yet given up on passing their party’s spending plan. They've been working with rank-and-file members who helped craft the deal on potential changes that could win over holdouts. 

One idea that seems to be gaining traction on the right is a proposal from Republican Study Committee Chairman Kevin Hern, R-Okla., to cap spending for the coming fiscal year at $1.47 trillion. 

That is the limit House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., promised his skeptics during the January speaker’s race negotiations that Republicans would use in writing their spending bills.

But he angered many on his right flank by cutting a deal with President Joe Biden on the debt limit that set a higher spending cap and has been struggling to regain their trust ever since. 

Ultraconservatives have demanded McCarthy outline a plan for cutting spending across the 12 annual appropriations bills that will get down the $1.47 trillion overall limit they agreed to in January. Five were frustrated enough with the speaker’s inaction that on Tuesday they voted against a procedural rule on the GOP’s defense spending bill, blocking it from advancing to the floor. 

“I took down the rule – as I vowed I would – because the Conference continues not to have moved twelve appropriations bills at the spending level agreed to in January,” Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., said in a statement posted on X. “I assume leadership believes me now.”

Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., said similar in an X post. 

“For months, I have made it clear that in order for me to support the appropriations bills, we need to see the total value for all 12 bills,” he wrote. “Leadership has yet to provide us with that number, which is why I voted against the rule this afternoon! Why are they keeping it a secret?”

It’s unclear if Hern’s amendment will be enough on its own to win over the ultraconservatives. 

Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., who did not block the defense rule but supports his colleagues’ reasoning, said he supports Hern’s amendment and that it could sway him to support the short-term spending bill but it must also come with a leadership commitment to moving House appropriations bills that achieve the $1.47 trillion limit. 

Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett, who is among the Republicans opposed to the GOP spending bill, said he would consider Hern’s amendment but noted he doesn’t love the idea of any stopgap spending bill, known as a continuing resolution or CR. 

“I told Hern to send me a copy of it, I like Hern, he’s a business man,” Burchett told The Messenger. “I’ll consider it, absolutely. I haven’t voted for CRs because I think we’ve pretty much just done away with our sworn duty.”

But at least one Republican said he can’t be convinced to vote for the stopgap even if the $1.47 trillion spending cap is included. Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, said he is a “no” on the stopgap either way. 

“The topline number does not get [rid of] the 40% government bloat that we had because of COVID,” Hunt told The Messenger. 

‘Fantasy Land’

Hern said his amendment has won over some of the holdouts. But moderates are warning it could repel some of the members who were already on board with the bill and still leave Republicans short of the 218 votes they need.

“They can't get to 218 on that number,” Lawler said of the $1.47 trillion number. 

Lawler said he supported the $1.47 trillion spending cap when Republicans offered it up in the debt limit negotiations but since McCarthy cut a deal for a higher spending cap, it’s too late to try to reverse the clock.

“It's obviously not the number that's going to be agreed upon in a final appropriations process,” he said. “So let's deal with reality and not fantasy land.”

House Appropriations Committee members like Mike Simpson have also expressed frustration at ultraconservatives who want to shirk bipartisan compromises. 

Simpson, R-Idaho, said there are many Capitol Hill newcomers who appear to believe that grinding things to a halt in Washington will be a guaranteed winner back home. A large number of current House Republicans weren’t around for the last and longest government shutdown that started in late 2018 and ended 34 days later in 2019.

“I've seen some freshman Republicans say you could shut down the government and no one would notice,” Simpson said. “That is unless you're in Idaho and you need a grazing permit and nobody's at BLM to answer the phone. Or if you're a company out in Ohio, you need a clean air permit, and nobody's at the EPA.” 

“People notice” those widespread interruptions that creep into everyday life, he said.

But if Republican dysfunction leads to a shutdown, Simpson couldn’t predict how they’ll get out of it.

“If there's a shutdown, who the hell knows what happens?” he said. “Except for we all sit in our office and say, ‘Man, this is stupid.’”

Nolan D. McCaskill contributed to this report.