Republican stopgap budget stuck in Senate holding pattern as midterm shutdown looms

WASHINGTON (CN) — A House-passed stopgap budget was in procedural limbo on Wednesday morning, as Senate Republicans appeared unlikely to hold a vote on the measure anytime soon as party leaders weighed a path forward to avert a government shutdown ahead of the midterm elections.

But the upper chamber’s decision to punt on a short-term budget extension may rile House Republican leadership, some of whom reportedly see a shutdown fight with Democrats as a political winner for the GOP as voters head to the polls in November.

The House on Tuesday night voted 220-205 to approve the budget patch, known as a continuing resolution, which would fund government programs through Dec. 4. The stopgap, if passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump, would sidestep a Sept. 30 fiscal deadline and a shutdown.

Although the continuing resolution has survived the lower chamber, its fate in the Senate remains uncertain. Some Democrats will need to get on board with the measure to clear a 60-vote threshold required for bill passage — and it’s unclear whether Republicans can secure enough cross-aisle support at the moment to get the budget stopgap across the finish line.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has already said that he would delay a vote on any House-passed continuing resolution while talks with Democrats continue. And speaking to reporters on Tuesday, the top Senate Republican said there was “no shortage of opportunities” for cross-aisle cooperation in the coming weeks.

“I think it’s going to be really important that we figure out a path forward to get a bipartisan agreement to fund the government that will keep government open and ensure that government employees are getting paid,” said Thune.

But while Senate Republicans eye bipartisan cooperation on government funding, House Republicans reportedly see an opportunity to force a confrontation with Democrats that could prove politically beneficial.

Politico reported on Tuesday that House Speaker Mike Johnson has privately urged Trump to support the House continuing resolution and spur a shutdown fight. House Republicans have reasoned that such a dispute would look worse for Democrats and help the GOP’s odds in the upcoming midterm elections where the party is forecasted to lose seats.

Democrats last year forced a historically long government shutdown as they railed against Republican efforts to curtail certain healthcare subsidies. That 76-day debacle was followed by a longer, albeit partial, shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security following high-profile killings of U.S. citizens by immigration enforcement agents.

Republicans at the time attempted to spin both shutdowns against Democrats with limited success. This time, however, GOP leaders in the House appear to believe that political landmine could work in their favor.

Thune, meanwhile, has said if talks with Democrats fail Senate Republicans would consider passing a budget stopgap through the budget reconciliation process, a procedural mechanism that only requires a simple majority to pass and thus could sidestep a Democratic filibuster. Republicans have already used budget reconciliation to hurdle Democrats twice in the second Trump administration.

The House, for its part, passed its continuing resolution on Tuesday despite concerns that some of the chamber’s more conservative Republicans would hold up the process as they tried to extract concessions from leadership.

Some lawmakers have threatened to grind proceedings to a halt until Congress passes the Save America Act, Trump’s marquee voter ID legislation which the president has demanded for months. Conservative Republicans have said that the measure should be attached to budget legislation, included in reconciliation or even tacked onto the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act.

So far, the future of the Save America Act appears bleak — there’s currently no path to passage in the Senate. But Trump in an address to the nation last week again called on congressional Republicans to act on the legislation as he claimed unprecedented foreign interference in U.S. elections and demanded reforms to voting systems.

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