Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) led a conference meeting on Wednesday in an effort to persuade fellow Republicans to home in on fiscal conservatism and delay a major spending bill until the next Congress is sworn in — when Republicans will take control of the House of Representatives.
The huddle comes as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said he backs the framework of the omnibus appropriations deal Wednesday to fund the government through most of 2023, the first step in a scramble to prevent a government shutdown. Appropriators have yet to disclose the terms of the agreement, but it is expected to set defense spending at $858 billion.
Current government funding runs out this Friday, but both chambers are attempting to pass a one-week continuing resolution to give appropriators more time to finalize the details of and pass the omnibus. McConnell said any deal on a long-term spending bill must be brought to a vote by Dec. 22, or else it would have to wait until next year.
About a half-dozen Republican senators, most of whom publicly opposed McConnell as their leader last month, are urging Republican leaders to consider a continuing resolution funded through Feb. 4, 2023, to delay the debate until next year, enabling Republicans to have more sway over the budget in order to force spending cuts from the White House.
MITCH MCCONNELL IN COMMAND OF HIS CONFERENCE, BUT LINGERING DISCONTENT THREATENS DEAL-MAKING
“I question whether this is an appropriate activity for Republicans to eagerly engage in at the precise moment when control of the House of Representatives has just flipped from Democrats to Republicans,” said Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) during a press conference on Tuesday afternoon. “I struggle with this suggestion that it makes sense to do that.”
The self-proclaimed “Breakfast Club” has been meeting in the mornings to discuss their grievances for some time now and called for the Republican conference meeting Wednesday to discuss the agenda and goals for the new Senate. The meeting lacked the fireworks of other recent gatherings and focused on how the party can leverage its influence against the Democratic majority in the upper chamber. Johnson said the conference agreed to have more meetings in the future.
“We’re not trying to pit one group against another group. We’re trying to do this as collaboratively as possible,” said Johnson, passing out charts showing federal spending levels to reporters outside the Senate chamber. “I think everybody respects each other, a lot of good ideas from the broad spectrum within our conference, and we’ll move forward from there. So, from my standpoint, there’s no acrimony there whatsoever,” he added.
House lawmakers are expected to vote as soon as Wednesday on a temporary funding measure that would fund the government through Dec. 23. The legislative process would depend on the cooperation of Senate Democrats and Republicans, where a few can slow down the chamber.
Both sides say a shutdown is unlikely. However, for weeks, a group of Republicans has insisted that it does not want to increase domestic spending since Biden and his allies secured previous funding over the past year. The group has demonstrated it will continue to be a thorn in McConnell’s side for at least a little while longer, objecting to any compromises with Democrats.
“I think the ability to hold 41 votes against something until certain conditions are met is significant. I think we’ve got to be strategic about it because otherwise, we’re missing a big opportunity to coordinate with our counterparts in the House,” Lee said following the meeting.
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In recent days, some Republicans in the House have raised the prospect of a government shutdown over both the one-week continuing resolution and the larger omnibus. Lee declined to shed light on how he intends to respond to a looming vote on the CR but said a temporary one-week fix “substantially increases the threat of a shutdown.”
“I don’t ever signal in advance what procedural steps I might take in response to something like that. This is going to have to be a real-time decision. We’ve got concerns with it. I do think it’s a mistake,” he said.
