U.S. House Republicans introduced a stopgap spending resolution late Wednesday to avert a partial government shutdown through May 5 as leadership continues negotiations on a larger budget deal.
Ongoing negotiations on the fiscal 2017 budget have focused on President Donald Trump's request for border wall funding and cost-sharing subsidies for former President Barack Obama's health care law, the Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare." The talks appeared to advance Wednesday as the president eased pressure to include the border wall funding and the White House agreed to continue the Obamacare payments.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., said in a statement announcing his weeklong continuing resolution bill that he expects "a final funding package will be completed soon." Congress has until the end of Friday night to pass the bill and avert a shutdown.
"This continuing resolution will continue to keep the government open and operating as normal for the next several days, in order to finalize legislation to fund the federal government for the rest of the fiscal year," he said.
Republicans are likely to need Democratic help to pass the bill in the House, where many conservatives have traditionally declined to vote for similar spending measures. In the Senate, Republicans would need at least eight Democratic votes to pass a spending measure.
The outstanding issues are Democrats' demands for economic aid to Puerto Rico and an extension of health care guarantees for thousands of miners and their families.
Democrats had signaled they would agree to somewhere less than half of Trump’s $30 billion supplemental spending request for defense in exchange for Republicans conceding on the Obamacare payments. Republicans said Wednesday that several numbers for defense have been under consideration.
"My guess is the supplemental will be less than what the president asked for, which will put more pressure on the '18 bill to make up some of the lost ground," House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said Wednesday.
The White House is expected to offer its 2018 funding proposal in early to mid-May, not long after Congress could resolve the long-delayed appropriations for the rest of 2017.
Asked if he would consider $10 billion in defense spending a win — on the heels of testimony from the chief of U.S. Pacific Command about U.S.-North Korea tension — Thornberry said: "I don’t care about wins. I care about giving this guy the resources he needs to do what he has to do.
"I think there is an increased realization among members that the world is getting more dangerous day by day, and weakness is not going to turn that around."
Rep. Tom Cole, a key GOP strategist and member of the House Budget Committee and the House Appropriations' Defense Subcommittee, said the additional funding, though well shy of the $30 billion, would be a victory.
"I think it will still will be a significant infusion of money," Cole said, "and the president is to be commended."
Meanwhile, House Republicans are wrangling over new legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare since the previous effort ran aground in an embarrassing fashion. Cole said proponents have made progress since then, but have to remember such a bill — if it passes the House — "will face an uncertain fate" in the Senate.
"It will certainly need some Senate input, so we’re a long way from getting this done," he said.
Joe Gould was the senior Pentagon reporter for Defense News, covering the intersection of national security policy, politics and the defense industry. He had previously served as Congress reporter.
