Speaker Mike Johnson laid out two potential paths to avert a government shutdown in a closed-door meeting with the House GOP Friday morning, according to a slide presented in the closed-door House GOP conference and shared with POLITICO.
There’s less than 12 hours left before a shutdown deadline.
Option one was moving a stopgap bill that funds the government through March that largely matches the package endorsed by Donald Trump that failed in the House on Thursday evening, except it wouldn’t include raising the debt limit. Johnson said that package would pass via suspension, meaning it would need a two-thirds majority to pass and therefore a lot of Democratic votes. It would include a one-year extension of the farm bill and $110 billion in disaster aid.
The second plan he laid out would involve three separate votes: one a stopgap funding bill into March, another on money for natural disasters and a third on aid for farmers. Johnson would try to pass that plan through the Rules Committee, meaning it would have to clear a couple of tough hurdles before a simple majority passage vote.
“The speaker is not telling people how it’s going to be,” said Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) as he left the meeting. “There’s not been a play call yet.”
However, one person in the room, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said it seemed like Johnson was pushing for the first option.
