Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Wednesday floated a stop-gap spending bill to Senate Republicans to avoid pushing through an omnibus spending bill.
Johnson told Senate Republicans that he would like to fund the government through January 15 to avoid a last-minute omnibus spending bill. The Speaker said he talked about a “one percent reduction” in any spending bill, according to Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND).
Politico had previously floated April 15 as another spending deadline. This would give Congress two months to hash out a long-term spending deal.
“I think he realizes, and we all do, that without a sooner deadline, we won’t start working sooner,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) remarked.
Politico wrote:
Still, Johnson’s plans are far from the last word on any major issue. Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy could not get a stopgap spending bill without Democratic votes, and House Democrats will not embrace a blunt spending cut in a short-term funding bill. What’s more, Schumer and McConnell will have plenty of say in how this year’s spending fights will play out.
Republican senators asked questions of Johnson during their Wednesday visit with him, but one was mostly quiet: McConnell. The GOP leader “was just taking it all in” as Johnson spoke and held court with Republican senators, according to Cornyn.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) met with Johnson before the meeting with the Senate Republican Conference. Sens. Johnson, Scott, and Mike Lee (R-UT) regularly meet with House conservatives.
I thought the Speaker did a great job, very transparent, very genuine, I think the senators were very impressed with who he is and what we talked about,” Johnson said about the Speaker.
“He’s clearly gathering support within his caucus on the House side in order to get things through. And if he gets something through that doesn’t mesh with what the Senate wants, it’s because he can’t get it through. We have to be very aware that he has his finger on the pulse of his caucus,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) said.
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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