GOP seeks to avoid, for once, the shutdown trap

House GOP leaders are racing to pass a stopgap funding measure, seeking to avoid the kind of government shutdown that has brought them pain in the past.

The stopgap measure would fund the government from Oct. 1 through Dec. 4, buying lawmakers time to complete the annual appropriations process.

What’s unusual is that the House GOP is trying to pass the measure in July, just before it is set to begin its annual summer recess next week, instead of waiting until September.

By moving the bill now, the GOP might avoid headlines about an approaching shutdown and drama and pressure as some lawmakers look for leverage.

“The September deadline isn’t changing, but how Congress plans for it can,” House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a veteran of more shutdowns than he’d probably like, said in a statement.

“This bill takes partisan politics and posturing off the table, denying anyone the opportunity to manufacture leverage from the calendar before elections,” he said.

It’s uncertain if the effort will succeed, though Republicans are hopeful they’ll be able to move the measure this week in the House.

The bill’s prospects in the Senate are up in the air, as it remains unclear whether the upper chamber will take up the legislation before its own August recess. Senators will stay in Washington for an additional two weeks before leaving for their break.

Republicans have repeatedly taken political black eyes over shutdown fights, most recently earlier this year. Both sides have political reasons to avoid a shutdown in the fall, just before midterm elections that will determine the next House and Senate majorities.

The House so far has passed three appropriations bills funding national security, the State Department and other relevant programs; agriculture, rural development, the Food and Drug Administration and related agencies; and military construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs and related agencies. 

But those bills have represented some of the lowest-hanging fruit. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is sure to face much tougher resistance — both from Democrats and within his own party — when the topic shifts to funding other agencies, including the Pentagon amid the Iran war.

The tough part for Johnson this week will be unifying his ornery conference around a procedural rule that would tee up debate and a final vote on the stopgap measure. Procedural rules are typically a test of party loyalty, and Republicans have occasionally broken ranks in opposition. 

There were already some signs of unrest.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who has previously opposed stopgap measures, argued on the social platform X that the new stopgap could endanger the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act, a bill that comprises various election security measures. Massie lost a primary earlier this year and has frequently been an irritant for Johnson.

The Speaker could also face pushback from other conservative hard-liners who had previously held up floor action over the SAVE America Act and other frustrations, potentially threatening the rule.

It’s also unclear how much support the continuing resolution (CR) will get from Democrats. While moderates have supported clean stopgaps in the past, House Appropriations Committee ranking member Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said during a House Rules Committee hearing Monday that she won’t support the CR because of issues related to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.

DeLauro noted recent killings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in two states, Maine and Texas, where neither of the slain men was “the target of enforcement operations — highlighting the urgent need for dramatic reforms to protect our communities from further violence.”

ICE and Border Patrol are funded for the next three years through a budget reconciliation bill that was passed earlier this year, but the rest of the Department of Homeland Security will see its funding run out on Sept. 30.

DeLauro added that the stopgap was drafted without any bipartisan negotiation, and she said she would have pushed for a provision in the bill that would reverse a proposed federal rule allowing Trump appointees to “unilaterally block or terminate grant funding if they deem it not sufficiently in line with the president’s policy priorities.”

Even so, House GOP leaders are moving full steam ahead with the measure. Cole said Monday during the Rules Committee hearing that “the threat of a shutdown is not only real, it happened twice over the last 12 months.”

Republicans are looking to fend off a potential blue wave in the 2026 midterms, and a shutdown could carry significant political risks for the majority party. 

“Both of these shutdowns were unnecessary, reckless, and irresponsible. It would be equally reckless and irresponsible to repeat the same mistake at the end of this fiscal year. Stability is necessary,” Cole said.

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