Democrats in the House are signaling they're open to Speaker Mike Johnson's plan to avoid a shutdown and keep the government open until January 19 of next year.
There has been growing opposition among conservative Republicans to the speaker's novel plan to fund some parts of the government through Jan. 19 while others would be funded through Feb. 2. In fact, the Freedom Caucus has rejected the plan outright.
“The House Freedom Caucus opposes the proposed ‘clean’ Continuing Resolution as it contains no spending reductions, no border security, and not a single meaningful win for the American People,” the group said in its position statement, released Tuesday morning. “Republicans must stop negotiating against ourselves over fears of what the Senate may do with the promise ‘roll over today and we’ll fight tomorrow.'”
"Rolling over" for the Senate is not the same as accepting reality. Democrats control the Senate, and many Republican senators simply aren't as hard right as the Freedom Caucus. Trying to get riders on conservative issues like anti-abortion or gender transition through the Senate isn't possible now, it won't be possible tomorrow, and will never be possible as long as Democrats are in control of the upper body.
The same goes for the massive cuts in spending proposed by the Freedom Caucus.
“I will not support a status quo that fails to acknowledge fiscal irresponsibility, and changes absolutely nothing while emboldening a do-nothing Senate and a fiscally illiterate president,” Representative Scott Perry, Republican of Pennsylvania and the leader of the hard-line Freedom Caucus, wrote on the social media site X.
Less than 20% of the federal budget is discretionary. That means that over 60% is in mandatory spending on entitlements like Social Security and Medicare. Another 10% is dedicated to paying interest on our massive, $33 trillion debt.
Almost 45% of discretionary spending goes to the military. The $3 trillion in non-defense discretionary spending the Freedom Caucus wants to cut over the next 10 years would not only gut social programs like SNAP, but also vital agencies like air traffic control, border security, and the DEA.
It took nearly 70 years to build up a $33 trillion debt. It will take decades to get out of debt without wrecking the budget wrecking the government and impoverishing millions of people. It can be done but it must be done intelligently, with both sides reaching some kind of rough consensus.
The House Freedom Caucus is wrong. Shutting down the government is not the answer. Keeping it running after Friday is another question, however.
To keep the government operating now, Johnson is going to have to ask Democrats to vote for his two-tiered approach to a Continuing Resolution (CR).
Johnson is going to have to ask the House to "suspend the rules" and take the CR directly to the floor with no rule to govern its passage. That means no amendments can be offered (something that appeals to the White House and congressional Democrats) and the bill must pass by a two-thirds majority; 290 votes.
“Extending the previous fiscal year’s funding is never an ideal way to govern, but the alternative is even worse,” said Representative Tom Cole, Republican of Oklahoma and the chairman of the Rules Committee. “We owe it to our constituents to keep the government open and operating to continue to provide them with the services they need and deserve.”
Related: The Clock Is Ticking on a Debt Bomb That Will Be Unavoidable in 20 Years
Even New York Democrat Sen. Chuck Schumer praised the approach by Johnson.
“I am pleased that Speaker Johnson seems to be moving in our direction by advancing a C.R. that does not include the highly partisan cuts that Democrats have warned against,” Schumer, the majority leader, said as the Senate convened on Monday.
As long as we have a divided government with no hint of compromise by either side, we're likely to have a repeat ad nauseam of the current budget fight.
