The Republican Study Committee, the largest group of GOP lawmakers in the House, endorsed Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) plan to pass a short-term continuing resolution as Congress continues to hammer out negotiations over government spending.
The study group released its position on Thursday just hours after McCarthy announced his plans to get a stopgap measure through the lower chamber as early as next week despite protests from some hard-line conservatives who say they won’t support any spending measure unless certain demands are met. The RSC position indicates a majority of the GOP conference will back such a move, sending a signal of hope that lawmakers may avoid a government shutdown just three weeks before the deadline.
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“As the House continues its important work of passing the most conservative set of individual FY 2024 appropriations bills, the RSC Steering Committee supports the expeditious House consideration of a short-term, conservative continuing resolution that prevents a shutdown and includes legislative solutions that have already united House Republicans and address harms inflicted by Democrats and President Biden, such as bloated and inflationary spending levels and the ongoing immigration crisis,” the group said in a statement.
Congress only has 16 days until the government is scheduled to run out of money and enter a shutdown period, sending House GOP leaders into a scramble as they attempt to get all corners of their conference on board to advance the must-pass legislation. If Congress can’t pass all 12 of its bills before the end of the month, lawmakers will typically agree to a continuing resolution that allows the government to operate at the same spending levels until a new agreement is made — something conservatives say is out of the question unless certain provisions are included.
Among those demands are passage of the GOP-led border security bill and slashed funding for certain “woke” policies at the Pentagon. McCarthy has been working with his right flank to iron out some sort of agreement, but nothing has been agreed upon yet, an aide told the Washington Examiner.
Still, McCarthy told reporters he hopes to push a short-term continuing resolution through the House as early as next week to keep the government funded, noting he would keep the House in session until a spending agreement is passed. Those comments come as McCarthy has expressed frustration with members of the conservative Freedom Caucus, especially after they sank plans to vote on the defense appropriations bill earlier this week.
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The House was initially scheduled to advance that spending bill on Wednesday, but GOP leaders postponed its consideration due to a lack of support from key holdouts. It’s unclear why conservatives opposed the legislation, which McCarthy said was at the center of his frustration.
“I am frustrated,” McCarthy said on Thursday. “I don’t have one complaint by any member of what’s wrong with this bill.”