House GOP leaders went into the week with plans to pass their stopgap funding bill today without Democratic support. That might not be possible.
With one surefire “no” in Rep. Thomas Massie, Republican leaders still need to wrangle a handful of potential holdouts — including Reps. Tony Gonzales, Tim Burchett, Cory Mills, Rich McCormick, Beth Van Duyne, Kat Cammack, Andy Ogles and Brian Fitzpatrick.
This group seems more open than Massie to backing the funding patch that would avert a shutdown that could kick in Saturday. Gonzales has repeated he will make a “game-time decision.” Mills said he needs “further explanations on some areas.” Others, like Ogles, might change their tune since leadership adjusted a provision in the bill that increased the number of available visas for Afghan allies.
The White House pressure campaign is in full swing. Trump is pushing for a primary challenger to Massie, saying he will “lead the charge against him.” Mills said Trump called him with OMB Director Russ Vought a few days ago to explain “some of the pros and cons” of the bill. Mills also got a call from Trump chief of staff Susie Wiles on Monday. And Vice President JD Vance will join Republicans’ weekly conference meeting this morning.
Trump and White House officials have been telling GOP holdouts who want more spending cuts that the administration will pursue impoundment — that is, holding back federal funding already appropriated by Congress — according to two Republicans who were in a recent meeting with the president.
But many of these fence-sitting Republicans are waiting to see if any Democrats support the stopgap funding. That’s unlikely: Many purple-district lawmakers are adamantly opposed. And while a few, including Reps. Laura Gillen and Don Davis, said that they were keeping their options open, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters Monday that “it is not something we could ever support.”
Rep. Rosa DeLauro and Sen. Patty Murray, Democrats’ top appropriators, released a shorter-term stopgap Monday night that would fund the government through April 11 and give negotiators more time to finalize full funding bills. But even House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole has ruled out that option, saying there is no Plan B to the stopgap GOP leaders are putting on the floor today.
Senate Democrats are still holding out hope. Across interviews and scrums Monday evening, 15 Democratic senators expressed hope that a shorter stopgap could prevail, that the full-year CR text could still change or that Speaker Mike Johnson would straight up fail to push the plan through as written.
What else we’re watching:
- Debt ceiling whisperer: Senate Majority Leader John Thune has tapped Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana to persuade Trump to endorse a solution for raising the debt ceiling. But Kennedy says that the president doesn’t seem interested. “I’ve done it publicly and privately,” Kennedy said of his efforts to push Trump, “and it’s clear to me that the president is not ready to focus that much on the debt limit.”
- Tax talk: As Senate Finance Committee Republicans exited their latest closed-door strategy session, several said that Senate Republicans don’t yet have a consensus on the tax portion, including how far they should go on spending cuts. Meanwhile, Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee huddled on Monday with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to review a large menu of tax options for the GOP’s policy agenda.
- Dem retreat incoming: Democrats will highlight battlegrounds and centrist voices at their annual issues retreat this week. Jeffries will participate in a keynote conversation Thursday with swing-state Govs. Josh Shapiro and Gretchen Whitmer and red-state Gov. Andy Beshear, Rep. Susie Lee will moderate a battleground session, and pollsters are set to discuss the “Evolving Democratic Coalition.”
Jennifer Scholtes, Meredith Lee Hill and Jordain Carney contributed to this report.
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