House GOP struggles to avert next shutdown as Mike Johnson faces familiar divisions

WASHINGTON – House Speaker Mike Johnson’s honeymoon period with Republicans in the lower chamber appears to be ending as the newly installed speaker faces nearly the same problems that plagued his predecessor. 

House Republicans went home Thursday afternoon after punting votes on two key appropriation bills needed to avert a government shutdown because of a lack of support from both ideological ends of the GOP conference. The failure to pass the bills underscores the deep divisions that have run through the conference since Republicans took control of the House in January and reflects the difficulty Johnson faces in avoiding a shutdown. 

“I don’t know, I don’t think the Lord Jesus himself could manage this group,” Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, said of Johnson’s ability to unite House Republicans. 

Just two weeks ago, House Republicans put on an unfamiliar front and united behind Johnson as their next speaker after the historic ousting of Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. That unity, however, appears to have crumbled as the country barrels towards Nov. 17, the government funding deadline. 

“To get behind the speaker, we all came together singing Kumbaya, holding hands, everything was great,” Nehls said. “Here we are now two weeks later, can’t get appropriation bills, and we’re a week away from shutting down the government.”

Managing the grievances within the conference – from moderate and hard-right GOP members alike – that are now blocking the appropriation bills ahead of a shutdown is proving to be Johnson’s first major test of his leadership. 

“Mike Johnson is putting his head in the lion’s mouth, and the lion bit on McCarthy,” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said.

McCarthy was ousted in October by a rebellion within his own party led by conservative hard-liners furious over him working with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown. As a result, the House was left paralyzed without a speaker unable to take any legislative action – including appropriation bills – until Johnson's election.

Will House GOP avert a shutdown before Nov. 17?

To avert a shutdown, House Republican leadership is considering two versions of a short-term stopgap measure – referred to as a continuing resolution – to extend government funding to buy Congress more time to pass a longer-term deal. 

The options are either a two-phased “laddered” approach that would fund different functions of the government until mid-January and other functions until mid-February or a “clean” continuing resolution that would keep government funded at current levels, likely until mid-December. 

The two-step funding measure is unlikely to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate and has even been met with confusion from some GOP members who say the proposal is convoluted and unnecessary. 

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., drew a hard line Thursday morning, saying at a news conference that House Democrats will support only a clean continuing resolution.

“To be clear, House Democrats are not going to pay a single right-wing ransom demand. We've not done it in the past. We're not going to do it today. We're not going to do it tomorrow.”

The House has so far passed seven out of the 12 appropriation bills needed to fund the government. The Senate has passed only three after hitting snags from more conservative GOP senators.

Rep. Marc Molinaro, R-N.Y., one of the moderate GOP members who opposed an appropriations bill for financial services and general government functions over an anti-abortion provision in the bill, said the failures of House Republicans to make stronger progress on funding the government are part of the process for them to organize themselves. 

But, the New York Republican said, that process has to conclude at some point. 

“Let’s not make process the future,” he said.