User’s Manual to filleting today’s House vote on the stopgap spending bill

Congress has pushed back an interim spending bill for a third time since September. The U.S. government was supposed to secure funding by lawmakers by Sept. 30 of last year.

This is the third time that Congress has punted on an interim spending bill since September. Congress was supposed to fund the government by Sept. 30. But today’s stopgap bill marks yet another delay.

It is expected that WAY MORE Democrats will support the temporary bill than Republicans.

SENATE PASSES SHORT-TERM SPENDING BILL TO FUND GOVT UNTIL MARCH, SAYS THERE WILL BE NO SHUTDOWN

This is what infuriates conservatives about House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) – as well as his predecessor, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

Democrats put up 209 yeas on both the September and November interim spending bills. The GOP only put up 126 and 127 yeas, respectively. Some on the right are mad that Johnson and McCarthy have put bills on the floor that get way more support from Democrats than they do from Republicans.

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The question is whether there is attrition from that mid-120s figure of GOP ayes, now that this is the third time a House Republican Speaker has gone down the stopgap spending road.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., were two of the Congressional leaders meeting President Biden at the White House on Wednesday.

Also, watch to see if Republicans dip below at least 111 yeas. There are currently 220 House GOPers. A vote of fewer than half the GOP conference would be a big blow to Johnson.

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Another vote that is a metric to use in this exercise: the bill to lift the debt ceiling last May. The bill passed 314-117. But more Democrats (165) voted yes than Republicans (149).

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However, note that all three of these bills (two continuing resolutions (CRs) and one debt ceiling bill) all scored well above 300 yeas. What that reveals is that there is a large, bipartisan coalition in the “fat middle” of the House and away from the poles of both parties to pass things. Legislation just can’t tilt too far to the left or to the right.

Otherwise, “Goldie Locks” legislation like the debt ceiling and the CRs to run the government pass overwhelmingly.