Speaker Mike Johnson unveils funding bill one week before potential shutdown
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Saturday unveiled a stopgap funding bill that would avert a shutdown at the end of next week and keep the government running through the end of September.
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Saturday unveiled a short-term funding bill that would avert a shutdown at the end of next week and keep the government running through the end of September.
Johnson has said he will bring the funding bill to the floor for a vote early next week, likely Tuesday, before money runs out late Friday night. It’s unclear whether it has the votes to pass either chamber, as it was not negotiated with Democrats, making it an important test for the new Republican trifecta on a must-pass bill that requires bipartisan backing to become law.
President Donald Trump has backed Johnson’s approach and said he’ll sign the bill if it reaches his desk, which would avoid a shutdown less than two months into his term.
“All Republicans should vote (Please!) YES next week,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post shortly after the bill was released. “I am asking you all to give us a few months to get us through to September so we can continue to put the Country’s ‘financial house’ in order. Democrats will do anything they can to shut down our Government, and we can’t let that happen.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks at a press conference about the House Republicans’ proposed budget on Feb. 25.Saul Loeb / AFP via Getty ImagesThe continuing resolution, or CR, includes an increase in defense spending while reducing nondefense discretionary spending. It does not expand the budget for additional emergency funding, disaster designations or community project funding, also known as earmarks.
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