Are Republicans Rethinking Their Shutdown Strategy?

More than three weeks into what is now the second-longest federal government shutdown in history, Republicans have to decide whether or not to change their strategy or keep putting the same government funding bill on the floor.

The future of the appropriations process could be at stake.

The seven-week funding extension Republicans brought to the Senate floor to buy time for funding negotiations has now shrunk down to four weeks, and Democrats have shown few signs they plan on letting it pass any time soon.

Even if Republicans got Democrats to end the near record-breaking shutdown, it would simply set up another fiscal cliff.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., recently indicated an openness to the idea of bringing the House back into session to put a longer-term continuing resolution on the floor and also expressed worries that a full-year CR is possible.

“Yup, for sure. I mean, every day that passes, we have less time to fund the government,” he said when asked whether the House should consider reconvening.

“Every week that drags by, it becomes harder and harder to actually have a normal appropriations process, which pushes us into a CR mode, a long-term CR mode,” Thune said. “And I just don’t think that’s the way that we ought to be funding the government around here, and every day that passes, that becomes more possible as an eventuality.”

House Leadership: ‘Day-By-Day’ Decision

On Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., acknowledged those concerns and said Republicans were debating their next move.

“Look, we’re running out of time to do very important, necessary things,” Johnson told reporters when asked about Thune’s remarks. “We have been in good faith every single day on this, and [Democrats] are eating up the clock. So, as we’re getting closer to November, it is going to be more and more difficult with each passing hour to get all the appropriations done on time. We acknowledge that, but we have to decide this on a day-by-day basis.”

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Later, in a press call with the fiscally conservative House Freedom Caucus, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., spoke candidly about the possible need for a later funding cut-off in order for the appropriations process to succeed, but said that decision cannot be made at the moment.

“Democrats have eaten up most of that time, and so we know at some point [appropriators will] need a later date, and we don’t want it to be jammed up against a holiday,” Scalise said.

 In the past, congressional leaders have placed funding deadlines up against holidays, exerting pressure on members to vote for omnibus spending packages. The current House leadership team has repeatedly vowed to avoid that tactic.

“Democrats love the Christmas Eve omnibus bad deal,” said Scalise. “We’re not going to do that. We got away from that years ago. But at the same time, whatever date might be needed is really not something you can negotiate, because Democrats aren’t negotiating”

He added, “until they stop having their temper tantrum against Donald Trump and are willing to negotiate, it doesn’t matter what date you put down, because they’re not voting for anything. They want to keep the government shut down.”

Still, Scalise also expressed optimism that appropriators could work together if Democrats voted to reopen the government.

“All 12 appropriations bills are out of committee [in the House],” and so we can negotiate on all of those bills, but it takes a willing partner,” the Louisiana lawmaker told The Daily Signal. “We had an agreement on three bills, and that’s still in a conference committee that can pick up tomorrow.”

Would a Long-Term CR Be So Bad?

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who serves as the policy chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, joined Scalise on the call, and discussed the possibility of a full-year continuing resolution, an outcome he says is not disastrous, since it keeps spending flat.

 “If we can have a long-term CR so we have guaranteed funding at current levels while we’ve got Donald Trump and [Office of Management and Budget Director] Russ Vought and the strong leadership over in the executive branch using taxpayer funds wisely, then that’s a good position to be in,” Roy told reporters. 

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Before the shutdown, multiple Freedom Caucus members were publicly expressing openness to a long-term continuing resolution, arguing that keeping spending flat is a political victory in Washington.

“We’d love to get our appropriations bills done, of course, but Democrats won’t work with us. Like, that’s the key issue here,” said Roy. “[If] we do a long-term CR, good by us. We trust the president and Russ Vought to do good work if the Democrats aren’t going to let us get appropriations bills done.”

The post Are Republicans Rethinking Their Shutdown Strategy? appeared first on The Daily Signal.