Update (5:30 pm ET): House Republicans are moving ahead with a plan to avoid a shutdown after the House Rules Committee approved a rule change that will allow Republicans to bring a two-week stopgap plan up for a floor vote Thursday, allowing the senate until end-of-day Friday to avoid a shutdown. The plan helped Speaker Paul Ryan override conservative GOP lawmakers who were pressing for a longer extension to get more leverage over Democrats and the Senate.
The decision on a stopgap bill with a Dec. 22 end-date came after Ryan and his leadership team held discussions on overall budget strategy with the leaders of the restive House Freedom Caucus. A formal check of how members would vote on the Dec. 22 deadline came back showing widespread support, said Representative Dennis Ross, a member of the vote-whipping team.
The Freedom Caucus will discuss the stopgap at a meeting tonight, according to a House Republican aide. Votes from the group’s three-dozen members may not be needed if Democrats support the stopgap plan.
As part of the talks, the Freedom Caucus has sought and Republican leaders are weighing a plan to attach the House’s fiscal year 2018 defense spending bill to a second resolution to keep the government funded after Dec. 22, according to Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows and Representative Mac Thornberry, the Texas Republican who leads the House Armed Services Committee, according to Bloomberg.
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Update: After Trump once again raised the prospect of a shutdown while speaking with reporters following a cabinet meeting today, Nancy Pelosi had a few choice words for the president…
This post was published at Zero Hedge on Dec 6, 2017.
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