News: Speaker Mike Johnson told House Republicans at the annual House GOP retreat this week that he may create four government funding deadlines next year instead of two, according to multiple sources.
This year, Johnson pushed for and was able to split the 12 annual spending bills into two different deadlines, which Congress is still struggling over. Johnson said that next year, he’d consider splitting the 12 bills across four deadlines if Republicans are still in charge.
Also at the House GOP retreat, held at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., Johnson tried again to prepare rank-and-file Republicans to be disappointed with the policy outcomes in the spending bills.
“In a time of divided government, when we only control one-half of one-third of the federal government and we have a two-vote majority, we know that we’re not going to get the bills that are our preference,” Johnson warned.
Johnson’s comments come as House and Senate leaders are scrambling to wrap up the six remaining spending bills from FY2024. The Homeland Security funding bill has become a huge problem in the bicameral talks.
We reported on Thursday that Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the top Senate GOP appropriator, told Republicans behind closed doors that she didn’t see a path to a bipartisan deal on Homeland Security funding.
With the stalemate continuing, appropriators have begun drafting a continuing resolution to fund DHS through the end of this fiscal year. Another possibility is a short-term stopgap that buys more time for negotiations on the Homeland bill while Congress votes on the five other bills.
However, there’s still no deal yet on funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which oversees aid for Palestinians. This is part of the State and Foreign Operations funding bill.
Republicans are looking to block UNRWA funding amid an investigation into whether some of its employees were involved in Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attacks. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the top Republican on the State-Foreign Ops subcommittee, said Thursday he won’t support “one dime” in funding for UNRWA.
Democrats say they want to ensure that the funding continues for UNRWA’s activities outside of Gaza, including in Jordan.
— Jake Sherman, John Bresnahan and Andrew Desiderio
