US House Republicans aim for vote to avert government shutdown on Tuesday

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By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Republican U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson aims to hold a vote on Tuesday on a bill to fund the government through September 30, a move needed to avert a partial shutdown of agencies late next week, he told reporters on Thursday.

The bill, a continuing resolution, or CR, that would fund the government at current levels for the remainder of fiscal year 2025, could be unveiled as soon as Friday, said Johnson, who leads a narrow 218-214 majority.

“It’ll probably be on Tuesday,” Johnson told reporters, adding that he expects the measure to pass. “We’ll have the votes, I believe. I believe we do.”

Members of the House Freedom Caucus, a bloc of roughly three dozen hardline conservatives who typically oppose CRs that lack spending cuts to reduce a federal deficit of just under $1.9 trillion, signaled their support for the funding measure this week after a meeting with President Donald Trump.

“We’re going to work toward getting that continuing resolution in a form where we can pass it,” House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris told reporters after seeing Trump.

Discretionary funding for fiscal year 2024 totaled about $1.8 trillion. Hardline Republicans said they expect a lower number for the CR. But either way, the spending would be only a fraction of the $6.75 trillion federal budget, which also includes spending for the Social Security retirement program and the Medicare healthcare program for older adults.    

Trump has pressed House Republicans to back the CR as a step toward enacting his legislative agenda, which calls for tax cuts, tighter border security, deportation of immigrants in the U.S. illegally, energy deregulation and higher military spending. 

Johnson can afford to lose no more than one Republican vote on legislation that lacks support from Democrats, who oppose Trump’s agenda including the spending and federal job cuts being pushed by billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency.

One House Republican, fiscal hawk Thomas Massie, has already said he intends to vote against the measure because it will not include DOGE-identified cuts to spending programs. Massie was the lone Republican to oppose a House budget blueprint for advancing the Trump agenda last week.  

The CR would also need to clear the Senate, where Republicans hold a 53-47 majority, before it could be sent on to Trump to sign it into law.

(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Scott Malone and Lisa Shumaker)