Non-essential government operations will end at the close of business Friday if Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill do not agree on a Continuing Resolution (CR) that will fund the government while they hammer out the details on spending bills.
Johnson's proposal is unusual but not unheard of. It presents a Jan. 19 deadline to pass four bills dealing with the military and veterans, transportation and urban development, agriculture and energy/water. Those bills would be finalized – or a partial government shutdown would follow. The remaining bills would face a Feb. 2 deadline to avoid a partial shutdown.
As Johnson has explained in various media reports, his plan would allow House members to work without the threat of the end-of-session omnibus bill packed with Democratic agenda items with little time to read or debate before a vote is called.
"This two-step continuing resolution is a necessary bill to place House Republicans in the best position to fight for conservative victories," Johnson said. "The bill will stop the absurd holiday-season omnibus tradition of massive, loaded-up spending bills introduced right before the Christmas recess."
In exchange, Johnson has offered a "clean CR," which means the temporary funding occurs at current spending levels. A clean CR also would not include meaningful Republican policy amendments.
Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Georgia) hails Johnson's two-step funding plan as good for the GOP.
"I applaud Speaker Johnson. I think this is a great idea, personally. Essentially, we have to have 12 appropriation bills passed. Our goal is to avoid a Christmas tree omnibus like we have experienced in the past. We set that as one of our goals at the first year that we did not want that to happen again. We don't want the government to shut down. We want the government to stay open. So, so this accomplishes both of those things," Carter said on Washington Watch Monday.
Again, all Republicans are not happy
But not all Republicans share Carter's enthusiasm – which has led some to question whether Republicans will gift Democrats with another Speaker fiasco for the holidays.
"It's 100% clean – and I 100% oppose," Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "My opposition to the clean CR just announced by the Speaker to the House cannot be overstated. Funding Pelosi-level spending and policies for 75 days for future 'promises.'"
The government is operating under the funding plan approved by the Democratic-led House in 2022 and extended with the 47-day CR that ultimately led to the ouster of then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Carter said the Johnson plan is significant because when the four bills that face the Jan. 19 deadline are set and signed by President Joe Biden, Republican measures go into effect right away.
"I like the idea of doing it as much as you can. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Well, let's take these bites as we can get them. Then we go on, and we work until Feb. 2 on everything else and get that done as well," Carter said.
In addition to Roy, Representatives Warren Davidson (Ohio), Bob Good (Virginia), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Georgia), Scott Perry (Pennsylvania), George Santos (New York) and Andrew Clyde (Georgia) have spoken out against Johnson's plan. Carter said he understands their frustration – but …
"The point is we're not going to be able … to get all 12 bills for the spending cuts done anytime soon, certainly not before Jan. 19," Carter argued. "So, why not go ahead and do what we can do until then? I know that there may be a certain amount of leverage when you have all of them together, but we've tried that and it hasn't worked."
Any disgruntled Republican can call for a vote on Johnson's job. The rule that allows a single member that much power – a concession made by McCarthy to get elected – has not changed.
"I'm not sure what lessons some members of our conference have learned. It was dumb to vacate the chair and get rid of Speaker McCarthy. It was a big error on our part. If we repeat that, then shame on us," Carter said.
Two-step proposal offers three wins for GOP
Johnson's plan is limited to mandatory funding and does not include foreign aid requests for Ukraine and Israel.
"We can separate the CR from supplemental funding, and we can debate funding for Israel, funding for Ukraine, funding for the Indo-Pacific separately. It should be done separately because I guarantee you if we do this omnibus, they're going to include that in there, and it's going to be jammed down our throats," the Speaker said.
Carter said the Johnson proposal gives three important gains to Republicans: the ominbus is avoided, foreign aid funding is separate, and a shutdown is avoided.
"Let's take the incremental wins when we can. Let's move the ball down the field. This is advancing the ball down the field – and that's good," Carter concluded.
The House is set to vote on Johnson's proposal Tuesday afternoon.
