House Republicans unveiled a stopgap spending bill to keep the U.S. government open past an Oct. 1 shutdown deadline, daring Democrats to vote against the measure, which does not contain health-care policies they have demanded.
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It would need the votes of at least seven Senate Democrats to meet a 60-vote threshold to overcome procedural obstacles.
Republicans could also have trouble passing the bill in the House against Democratic opposition, given the party's slender majority, despite public urging from President Donald Trump to stick together in support of interim funding.
The measure would provide $30 million for lawmakers to reimburse local police for security, as well as $30 million for executive branch security and $28 million for the judiciary.
The spending bill also contains a White House-requested provision to allow the District of Columbia to spend its own tax dollars. This was left out of the last stopgap bill, causing a funding shortfall for the District of $1 billion.
Before the measure was even released, four Republican House members signaled their objections. Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky said in a message he would vote against any stopgap bill unless it cut spending "which I doubt they are ready to do."
Representative Victoria Spartz of Indiana said she would vote no if the new shutdown deadline is set right before a major holiday like Thanksgiving, which falls on Nov. 27 this year. Then, two other Republicans, Warren Davidson of Ohio, and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, indicated that they would be in the no column as well.
With those defections, House Speaker Mike Johnson will have to turn to the opposition to get the measure approved. But Representative Jared Golden, a Maine Democrat, has indicated in the past that he would always support stopgap funding.
Democratic leaders said last week that they would not support any bill that failed to lower the costs of U.S. health care. In March, they made similar shutdown threats but Minority Leader Chuck Schumer ultimately backed down and allowed a handful of lawmakers to cast votes advancing the legislation.
Democratic demands include extending expiring Obamacare premium subsidies, reversing cuts to Medicaid made in Trump's signature tax law and preventing the White House from unilaterally cutting medical research funds.
The Republican bill doesn't include any of those demands. Some Republican moderates have said they would support renewing Obamacare subsidies and Senate Republican Leader John Thune suggested a deal could be forged in the months ahead once the temporary measure is passed.
Democrats have countered that Obamacare enrollees would begin getting notices of premium increases on Nov. 1 so a deal must be struck now. Without a deal, Obamacare tax credits would be limited to families making 400% of the poverty line in income.
"Notices are going to go out in a matter of weeks to millions of Americans who will be shocked by the fact that their health care premiums are about to skyrocket, in some cases by tens of thousands of dollars," House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters on Tuesday.
Senate Democrats say they plan to release a counterproposal soon with concrete demands.
Johnson said the House plans to vote by Friday on the bill, leaving the Senate to handle it ahead of a planned week-long recess.
On Tuesday, Thune and Schumer were arguing publicly over which one was refusing to meet with the other on the stopgap bill, a sign the risk of a shutdown remains high.
