House Republicans are moving ahead with a plan to temporarily fund the government while beefing up border security – a proposal that is dead on arrival in the Senate and could even face difficulties in the House, raising the likelihood of a government shutdown at the end of the month.
A group of six Republican members – three from the conservative House Freedom Caucus and three from the centrist-leaning Main Street Caucus – worked through the weekend to finalize a tentative deal on a short-term spending plan that they hope will get buy-in from across the Republican conference.
The agreement, according to GOP sources familiar with the matter, would pair a 31-day continuing resolution with a House GOP-passed border security package, but without the bill’s provisions on E-Verify, a national immigration status database.
The short-term spending bill also would impose some spending cuts instead of keeping the government funded at current levels. While the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs would be maintained at funding levels, other agencies would face a roughly 8% cut.
The bill does not include the White House request for $40 billion in supplemental funding for natural disasters and the war in Ukraine, which Senate leaders in both parties want attached to any temporary funding bill.
The House GOP will have a conference call Sunday evening to discuss the plan.
The framework represents an agreement by two key corners of the GOP, but there is still no guarantee it would have the 218 votes needed to pass the House. Since all Democrats are likely to oppose the bill, that means Speaker Kevin McCarthy can afford to lose only a handful of Republicans – and at least three hardliners have already signaled they are against any short-term bill.
And even if House Republicans are able to pass the bill, it will certainly be…
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