Congress Is Miraculously Headed Toward Another Stopgap Funding Bill — Or Predictably a Shutdown

“We ran out of time in September. We ran out of time in December. We’re running out of time in March,” Rep. Steve Womack told NOTUS. “I’m beginning to feel like the appropriations process is irrelevant.”

Mike Johnson

House Speaker Mike Johnson is seen during a press conference on Capitol Hill. Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP

In December, as the House kicked the can on government funding once again, Speaker Mike Johnson was adamant that his conference wouldn’t extend current funding levels when the next deadline came on March 14.

With just seven legislative work days between now and then, however, the House is strapping on its can-kicking shoes and preparing to do exactly that — pass another extension of current funding. And this time, Republicans want to pass a bill that extends government funding until October.

Although appropriators have spent weeks negotiating a top-line funding number, talks have seemingly stalled out over Democratic demands for assurances that President Donald Trump will actually use the funds that Congress appropriates for their intended purposes. Since that’s a nonstarter for Republicans — why would Trump sign a law that hamstrings his own power? — the two parties are locked in a standoff with the clock winding down and a shutdown two weeks away.