Johnson prefers January spending bill to avoid Christmas omnibus ‘PTSD’
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) expressed opposition to a proposed December 19 government funding deadline suggested by Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-ME), citing lawmakers’ “PTSD” from previous last-minute Christmas omnibus spending bills. He favors extending the deadline to January to avoid the rush and risk that come with end-of-year funding battles. This comes as the government shutdown approaches the longest in history. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) is open to extending the funding deadline and passing some appropriations bills to keep parts of the government funded. Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is willing to extend short-term funding to start negotiations on healthcare demands. Despite efforts, the House’s November 21 funding deadline has failed multiple times in the Senate due to the filibuster threshold, making an extension into january likely to allow more time to resolve appropriations.
Johnson prefers January spending bill and wants to avoid Christmas omnibus ‘PTSD’
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) threw cold water on a possible new Dec. 19 funding deadline proposed by Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-ME), saying a lot of members have “PTSD” from Christmas funding deadlines.
The speaker also expressed support for a January deadline as part of a recent effort to reopen the government, while it stands just one day away from being the longest shutdown in history.
“I am not a fan of extending it to December, because let’s be frank, a lot of people around here have PTSD about Christmas omnibus spending bills,” Johnson said at a Tuesday press conference. “We don’t want to do that. It gets too close, and we don’t want to have that risk. We’re not doing we’re not doing that.
“I think putting it into January makes sense, but we obviously build consensus around that, there’s some discussion about it, we’ll see where it lands.”
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are often sheepish about any major vote that runs up to a holiday, claiming that they do not want to feel “jammed” when it comes to getting a major bill, such as government funding, across the finish line.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has expressed openness to extending the funding date, while also passing a handful of the 12 appropriations bills to fund those subsets of the government through the fiscal year.
“We are trying to land this appropriations bill, on which I think a continuing resolution could ride, and obviously we’re going to have to extend the date as everybody knows, because we’re almost up against the November deadline right now,” Thune told reporters Tuesday morning.
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The House-passed Nov. 21 funding date has failed in the Senate 14 times, due to the 60-vote filibuster threshold, but it will likely need to be extended into January to allow more time for the tough appropriations process to commence after the shutdown.
On Monday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) showed willingness to extend a short-term funding date, aiming to begin negotiations on Democrats’ healthcare demands, as Republicans and Trump continue to push the sentiment that it will only happen when the shutdown ends. The upper chamber will still face the 60-vote filibuster threshold with any new stopgap funding bill.
David Sivak contributed to this article.
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