US Congress searches for stopgap funding deal amid rancor

By Richard Cowan and Bo Erickson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Congress returns from a weekend recess on Monday and will attempt to broker a deal on legislation to temporarily fund a range of federal programs, with no clear path and just 15 days remaining before money runs out.

Unless a stopgap spending bill is sent to President Joe Biden by midnight Sept. 30, the end of the current fiscal year, many agency operations will cease with thousands of federal workers furloughed for lack of funds.

The Democratic-controlled Senate re-opens for business on Monday, while the Republican-controlled House of Representatives returns on Tuesday.

Last week, House Speaker Mike Johnson had to abandon his attempt to pass a spending bill when it became clear that he did not have enough support for passage from his rank-and-file Republicans.

Republican infighting was on full display on Sunday, with Representatives Bryan Steil and Cory Mills bickering during an interview on Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo’s show.

“Shut the government down or shut the border down to protect our elections,” Mills said, as he stood by his opposition to his leadership’s bill.

He said the measure hurts the U.S. military by not providing the Pentagon with full-year appropriations.

Mills also noted that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has made clear he would not bring up a temporary spending bill that has the controversial, unrelated Republican legislation attached to it requiring that people provide proof of citizenship to register to vote.

Non-citizen voting already is illegal in federal elections.

Some of the most conservative House members never vote for the full-year spending bills, much less a stopgap measure.

Johnson needs near unanimity of Republicans to pass bills that are opposed by House Democrats, given his party’s narrow 220-211 majority.

In response to Mills, Steil said he was “reasonably confident” that Johnson’s bill could prevail in the House as early as this week.

“I think we have an opportunity to pass the legislation the speaker has put forward and jam the United States Senate,” Steil argued.

Jamming the Senate implies a strategy in which the House would pass its version of the bill, send it to the Senate and then leave town. That could leave senators with two options: approving a bill Democrats oppose or passing their own version, but with no House in session to receive it — an outcome that would trigger government shutdowns with the Nov. 5 presidential and congressional elections looming.

A shutdown could produce voter backlash against whichever party is blamed. A shutdown ultimately could hobble airline travel regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration, shutter national parks and interrupt many other government services.

The annual battles over spending bills typically are resolved when leaders from both parties and both chambers engage in negotiations toward a bipartisan solution. The last government shutdown occurred at the end of 2018 and stretched well into January 2019.