This week: House GOP tries to end partial government shutdown

Niels Lesniewski, CQ-Roll Call on Feb 2, 2026

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WASHINGTON — All eyes will be on the House this week as the Republican majority seeks to bring a quick end to the partial government shutdown that began on Friday.

The House Rules Committee meets Monday afternoon to work on a rule for floor consideration of the package of five fiscal 2026 spending bills, in addition to a two-week extension of Department of Homeland Security funding.

The Senate passed the $1.2 trillion spending package on Jan. 30, after stripping out the Homeland Security portion due to opposition from Democrats after the killing of two Minneapolis residents by federal immigration agents. That change to the package meant it had to go back to the House for another vote, while current funding expired Jan. 30.

“We’ll get all this done by Tuesday, I’m convinced,” Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said on Fox News Sunday. “We do have to do it by way of a rule process, which will be probably on our own. I don’t understand why anybody would have a problem with this, though. Remember, these are the bills that have already been passed; we’re going to do it again.”

Johnson said the agreement on the five bills plus the Homeland Security CR was President Donald Trump’s “play call.”

The spending package may get some Democratic support, having passed the Senate, 71-29, but Republicans will largely need to unify behind the current agreement in order to have federal departments and agencies that are currently in shutdown mode back open on Wednesday.

Several lawmakers expressed substantial skepticism over the weekend about that timeline.

In a weekend interview with MS NOW, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said there needed to be conversations about what the way forward for changes to Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of the funding process.

“We need to make sure that ICE agents who violate the law can actually be criminally investigated and prosecuted by state and local authorities when their laws have been violated,” Jeffries said.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., has demanded that the rule for debate on the spending package include her legislation that would require proof of citizenship for those registering to vote in federal elections. She reiterated that demand on social media over the weekend.

The margin for the House GOP leadership is expected to get smaller this week with the expected swearing-in of Democrat Christian Menefee of Texas, who won the special election to fill the unexpired term of the late Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner. The Houston-area seat has been vacant for almost a year.

Other matters

The immediate action on the Senate floor this week will be confirmation of more of Trump’s judicial nominees, starting with David Clay Fowlkes to be a federal district judge in Arkansas.

And the spending bill isn’t the only measure on the House agenda. Among the other key items is a joint resolution intended to stop the local government in Washington, D.C., from enacting a law to make sure some federal tax cuts from the 2025 reconciliation law wouldn’t affect the local government’s budget.

“Unless House Republicans take action, this D.C. Act will become law by the end of this month,” the office of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said Sunday. “This week, House Republicans are bringing forward legislation to block the enactment of D.C. Act 26-217 and stop the D.C. Council’s deliberate attempt to withhold … tax benefits from local residents and businesses.”

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has scheduled a markup for Wednesday that includes consideration of the same resolution, which has drawn the ire of members of the D.C. City Council. And the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities published a blog post last week warning that the resolution could lead to credit downgrades for the local D.C. government.

“D.C. has demonstrated strong financial management through balanced budgets and 28 consecutive clean audits. But ratings agencies are already questioning D.C.’s ability to meet its financial obligations because of federal actions,” CBPP said. “Moody’s downgraded D.C. last year after Congress barred the District from spending $1 billion of its own revenue in its 2025 budget.”

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—Aidan Quigley contributed to this report.