GOP leaders try to quell stopgap concerns as House vote nears

House Republican leaders overcame a key procedural hurdle Wednesday evening, paving the way for floor consideration of the short-term stopgap funding measure they will need to pass with GOP votes later this week due to near-uniform Democratic objections.

The chamber adopted the rule for floor debate on the bill on a 216-210 party-line vote. For a while it looked like there might be trouble, however, as Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., engaged in heated discussions on the floor with a group of lawmakers who’ve been vocal about beefing up member security resources.

The assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last week, whose legacy would be honored under a separate resolution that the rule sets up a vote on, spurred intense negotiations on how much more money should be appropriated to help protect public officials.

GOP leaders agreed to a White House request for $58 million in added funding for executive branch and Supreme Court security, and tacked on another $30 million for Capitol Police arrangements with local law enforcement to protect members.

Republicans including Anna Paulina Luna, Randy Fine and Kat Cammack of Florida, as well as Florida Democrat Jared Moskowitz, were seen huddling with Johnson on the floor. House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., was also part of the talks, along with Tennessee Republicans Tim Burchett and Andy Ogles.

Several of those members and their offices have been threatened personally, including Luna, Moskowitz and Cammack. Burchett and Ogles have recently been involved in physical altercations with protesters. Moskowitz and Luna co-authored an amendment to the CR with Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., to boost member security funds by $135 million, but it was rejected by the Rules Committee.

During the vote, Steil and his committee’s ranking Democrat, Joseph Morelle of New York, announced that with Johnson’s blessing they had agreed to double a $5,000 monthly allotment for lawmakers to spend on hiring private security and extend that pilot program through Nov. 21, for the duration of the CR.

Steil said the pilot program enhancement, plus the opportunity for more funding in the upcoming conference negotiations on the fiscal 2026 Legislative Branch appropriations bill, should be enough to resolve lingering concerns.

“I think what we’ll see is that our ability to bridge this through the end of the CR, I think, will ultimately bring everybody on board,” Steil said. “This additional plus-up, I think, is helpful to members. And then the ultimate end goal here is to get Leg Branch approps completed so it can be fully funded for the entire fiscal year.”

Rep. Byron Donalds, another Florida Republican who has voiced concerns about personal safety, initially voted “present” on the rule before flipping to vote for it. He said talks would continue up until the vote on final passage.

“I just think it’s something that members have been asking for for a long time,” said Donalds, who’s hired private protection in the past. “A lot of times it’s fallen on deaf ears.”

Burchett also said his concerns weren’t fully addressed and wants to see added money included in the CR.

“Just put it in the … damn CR and let’s pass it. Let’s go,” he said.

White House: Shutdown ‘disastrous’

Even if Johnson can tamp down member security concerns, he still has no guarantee of passage since a few Republicans have said they’ll vote “no” regardless — including Thomas Massie, R-Ky., Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Victoria Spartz of Indiana.

Massie, who regularly votes against leadership-backed initiatives, voted “present” on the rule Wednesday night.

Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio, who initially said he’s a “no,” has already softened his stance, and Spartz has been known to cave in the face of pressure from party leaders and President Donald Trump, whose budget office issued a statement of support for the bill on Wednesday night.

Blocking the measure “would result in a senseless Government shutdown that would be disastrous for the American people,” the statement said. “President Trump opposes a Government shutdown and every Member of Congress must support passage of this clean, short-term CR to keep the Government open as discussions on full-year appropriations continue.”

Still, there was no guarantee of passage despite Wednesday’s procedural victory and Trump’s blessing. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., have vowed that their caucuses will be united against the measure.

House GOP leaders will have another day to work out intraparty issues with the CR, with the vote likely pushed to Friday.

Senate off-ramp?

The major sticking point for Democrats has been the scheduled year-end expiration of expanded subsidies for purchasing health insurance on government-run exchanges.

Democratic leaders offered an alternative stopgap bill on Wednesday night that would, among other things, extend those expanded premium tax credits permanently. It would also repeal health care-related changes made by Republicans’ “big, beautiful” reconciliation law, including around $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and other programs over a decade.

If the GOP bill can get out of the House, Schumer did offer an exit strategy of sorts on Wednesday night, offering a chance to look at a future commitment to deal with the expiring exchange subsidies once the CR passes rather than insist on changes to the bill now before the Sept. 30 deadline.

“Well look, we have two weeks. They should sit down and talk to us, and we maybe can get a good proposal,” Schumer said. “We’ll sit down and negotiate if they will sit down and negotiate. We don’t have a red line, but we know we have to help the American people.”

Republican leaders argue the current income thresholds to qualify for the tax credits are too high, and GOP senators are discussing lowering those in any extension.

“We’ve been putting our heads together, but so is the White House” and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said of a loose effort by some Republicans to find a path forward on extending the premium tax credits.

Sullivan said the group aimed to address the issue by the end of the year but are still discussing potential changes to the program and possible offsets.

Sullivan’s Alaskan counterpart, Lisa Murkowski, introduced on Tuesday her own stand-alone two-year extension that would not change the current income threshold levels. Her staff characterized the bill as “setting a marker” in the ongoing GOP extension talks.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said that he and Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., are working on ways to limit fraud in the program, and spoke to CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz on incorporating artificial intelligence into that effort.

“They’re trying to clean that up. And if they do that, I don’t think you have to worry about the subsidies, to be honest with you,” said Tuberville, who is running for governor.

Democratic substitute

Democrats’ alternative CR would extend current funding levels only through Oct. 31, keeping more pressure on appropriators to strike a bipartisan full-year deal on fiscal 2026 spending.

Among other changes to the GOP bill, it would add an extra $170 million for member security on top of the $30 million for the Capitol Police, and appropriate at a higher rate of $8.2 billion for nutrition assistance to low-income women and young children.

The measure would also put various strings on the White House’s ability to unilaterally cancel already-appropriated funds, including $2.9 billion the administration declined to spend from the fiscal 2025 full-year CR enacted in March. It would unfreeze the $4.9 billion in foreign aid currently subject to a “pocket rescission,” or the White House’s move to hold back the funds until they expire Sept. 30.

The Democrats’ bill would also permanently turn off expedited procedures to bring a presidential rescissions package to the floor in the Senate without the typical 60-vote cloture hurdle, and bar the executive branch from withholding appropriated funds within the final 90 days of the money’s availability.

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(Justin Papp and Paul M. Krawzak contributed to this report.)

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