House Republicans are pursuing a two-step plan for funding the government, three sources familiar with the matter told CNN, as Congress barrels toward another spending deadline Friday.
Newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson announced the plan on a GOP conference call with members Saturday afternoon and argued, “I wasn’t the architect of the mess we are in,” according to a source on the call.
While Johnson embraced the right-wing members of his conference by pitching the two-step approach, he didn’t fully cave to their wishes. The package does not include the deep spending cuts his right flank pushed for but instead extends funding at its current levels.
“This two-step continuing resolution is a necessary bill to place House Republicans in the best position to fight for conservative victories,” Johnson said in a statement Saturday.
The first bill would extend funding until January 19 and would include funding for military construction, Veterans Affairs, transportation, housing and the Energy Department. The second part of the bill, which would extend funding until February 2, would include funding for the rest of the government.
Neither bill includes additional aid for Israel or Ukraine.
The two-step approach was widely pushed by Republican hardliners but dismissed by many senators as a complicated solution that would be hard to execute. Still, given that funding for the agencies would stay at current levels, it could be harder for Democrats to reject.
A Senate Democratic leadership aide signaled their openness to Johnson’s funding plan, telling CNN, “It’s a good thing the speaker didn’t include unnecessary cuts and kept defense funding with the second group of programs.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, however, cast Johnson’s plan as “a recipe for more Republican chaos and more…
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