Democrats to Help Johnson Again to Avoid Government Shutdown

Republicans were forced to abandon a spending bill that failed last week after 14 GOP members voted against a six-month resolution extending the SAVE Act, a voting integrity measure favored by radical conservatives.

House Republican leaders are now preparing for a vote Wednesday on a three-month spending deal that would push the deadline to Dec. 20, while appropriations officials continue negotiations on the fiscal 2025 budget. Democrats, however, have been unwilling to say how many members of their conference will help their Republican colleagues after doing so in February.

“We believe that if House Speaker Johnson does this, he will have the Republicans to pass the bill,” said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar (D-CA). “So we’re going to work in a bipartisan way to make sure that gets done.”

House leadership withdrew the resolution from the Rules Committee Monday night to avoid the legislation being blocked by hardline conservatives on the powerful committee. Instead of advancing through traditional House procedure, the legislation will be brought to the floor under a suspension of rules that requires a two-thirds majority. Given that Johnson holds only a three-seat majority and a handful of Republicans historically vote “no” on Rules Committee resolutions, Democratic support is needed to pass the measure.

It remains to be seen how many Democrats will help push it across the finish line. Aguilar said Democrats “did not, to my knowledge, vote against this measure,” adding that “obviously, for a suspension, we need two-thirds of the vote.”

Several Democrats, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), said a revolving resolution “within this calendar year” was the outcome most Democrats preferred. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, told reporters that Democrats were “absolutely” pleased that the revolving resolution was changed from a six-month period to a three-month period.

“It makes no sense to postpone this until next year,” DeLauro said.

Asked if she thought the votes were there to pass the CR, DeLauro said, “We’ll see.”

Meanwhile, many GOP members are once again furious that leaders will have to rely on Democratic votes to pass legislation.

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), who sits on the Rules Committee, told the Washington Examiner “Needing Democrat support on anything is a step backward.”

As a peace proposal, Johnson told Republicans Tuesday that they would not have to vote on a massive omnibus spending bill over Christmas that bundles together several agency funding bills. Republicans would prefer to pass and debate the 12 appropriations bills separately, but so far they have managed to pass only five.

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House Rules Committee member Jim McGovern (D-MA) said passing a spending bill should be “one of the most fundamental obligations of the majority.” He wouldn’t say how many Democrats would vote “yes,” but said that when DeLauro summarized the pending resolution up for a vote this week, “I didn’t hear any objections.”

“We’re all doing what we can to avoid any surprises,” McGovern said. “But again, Republicans can’t govern. They need us to do the most basic thing, which is keep the government open.”