As a possible government shut down looms and former President Trump continues to pressure Republicans to shut down the government without policy concessions, House Republicans plan to vote this week on a three-month stopgap funding bill to keep the federal government open through December.
David Bateman, professor of government and policy at Cornell University and expert on Congress and the legislative process, says Trump and the far right have House Republicans in a bind.
Bateman says: “It was no surprise Speaker Johnson lost his bid to push through a continuing resolution with voter suppression rider attached. All members want to be campaigning in their district rather than waiting in DC. That’s why continuing resolutions without polarizing policy changes are so attractive.
“Republicans and Johnson are in a bind of the extreme-right and Trump’s making, who have demanded a policy rider that can’t pass. Johnson will either upset them with a relatively clean continuing resolution or upset everyone else with an election-season shutdown, possibly costing the GOP the House and maybe the Electoral College.
“It’s been obvious for months that a relatively clean continuing resolution will eventually pass. The only question is how much damage will be done to get there. Johnson could force a shutdown, delaying the inevitable at huge cost. More likely, he will try to pass the clean-enough, three-month bill, so that the Senate’s alternative - a clean, six-month bill – doesn’t become the only viable option. And if he can’t do that, his leadership isn’t likely to last.”
For interviews contact Damien Sharp, cell: 540.222.8208, drs395@cornell.edu.
