The Senate’s top Republican leader said Monday he wants the chamber to vote on a stopgap funding bill before lawmakers leave town for a scheduled weeklong recess.
“I’d like to get it — if we can get it from the House — get it done this week before we leave,” Majority Leader John Thune told reporters.
However, getting the measure quickly from the House is in fact a big “if.” House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told reporters Monday that his chamber might not pass the expected continuing resolution, which is expected to keep the government open through Nov. 20, until Thursday or Friday.
House leaders continued to discuss Monday how much new member security funding to add to the stopgap in light of the assassination last week of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, which has contributed to the delay.
It could take days for the Senate to get to an initial vote after House passage if all 100 senators can’t agree to move faster. Republicans will need help from Democrats there to advance the funding bill, and senators are already bracing for the possibility of weekend work.
Both chambers are scheduled to be out of Washington next week for the observance of Rosh Hashanah. If the stopgap funding bill gets delayed in the House, Senate Republicans have left the door open to returning after the holiday next week, when they will only be days from the end-of-month shutdown deadline.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has warned that Democrats will oppose the stopgap bill unless Republicans negotiate with them, including on Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year. Schumer hasn’t drawn a red line on what specific policy concessions Democrats would need, saying only that there needs to be a “bipartisan negotiation.”
“We want to keep the government open by engaging in bipartisan negotiation,” Schumer said Monday, adding of Republicans: “If one side refuses to negotiate they are the ones causing the shutdown.”
Republicans continued to insist Monday that the stopgap would be “clean,” without divisive policy provisions, leaving Democrats no reason to oppose it. “Nothing in there is going to cause anybody to vote ‘no’ that would otherwise vote ‘yes,’” Cole said.
Thune left the door open Monday to include new funding for member security after Speaker Mike Johnson separately told reporters that he’s still working to “build consensus” with members on a security funding plan.
Thune also suggested that legislation from Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) related to Russia is unlikely to be attached to the stopgap. The legislation would impose tariffs on countries that import Russian energy and implement secondary sanctions on foreign firms that support Russian energy production
Graham and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) issued a joint statement over the weekend, first reported by POLITICO, urging colleagues to link their bill to government funding.
Thune said he hoped the legislation is “ripe here soon” but said Republicans are continuing to wait on President Donald Trump to lay the groundwork with U.S. allies first.
“I think this needs to be everybody taking the same tack when it comes to addressing the situation,” he said.
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