Will Third Time Be the Charm? Speaker Johnson Unveils New Spending Plan as Government Shutdown Approaches

After Speaker Mike Johnson’s first two funding bills were blocked by the House, Republican leadership has put forth a plan C in a last-ditch attempt to avoid a government shutdown.

In a closed-door meeting with the Republican conference on Friday, just hours before the midnight funding deadline, Johnson presented two options to keep the government open. However, as lawmakers continue to reassess their approach, the prospect of a government shutdown is looking increasingly likely.

The first option Johnson proposed mirrored the Trump-endorsed Continuing Resolution (CR) that the House blocked on Thursday. His version would exclude any provisions to raise the debt limit and would fund the government through March 14. Similar to the Thursday vote, this CR would be brought to the House floor under suspension, requiring a two-thirds majority to pass. This means a significant portion of Democrats would need to support the bill. Nearly all Democrats voted against the Trump-backed CR.

The second option involved three separate votes: one on a clean CR extending through March 14, one on disaster aid, and one on the farm bill. Under this plan, Johnson would send the bills through the Rules Committee, which would require only a simple majority for approval.

“This isn’t complicated,” Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky said in a Thursday post on X. “Separate the bills and vote on them individually. One vote on the clean CR, one vote on the debt limit, one vote on disaster relief, one vote on farm bailouts. Radical right? Individual bills for each issue.”

“Single Subject Bills,” Republican Rep. Michael Cloud of Texas said in a Friday post on X. “Vote on them individually.”

Johnson’s first CR was introduced late Tuesday evening after delays over the weekend. The initial 1,547-page CR quickly sparked frustration among Republican lawmakers, MAGA allies, and even President-elect Donald Trump himself.

Within 24 hours, Johnson scrapped the original CR after facing significant backlash. After another day of intense negotiations, he released a more streamlined 116-page CR on Thursday, a sharp contrast to the original proposal.

The updated, slimmer CR was voted on that same Thursday evening under suspension, needing a two-thirds majority to pass. Although the bill garnered the enthusiastic backing of Trump, it failed, with 38 Republicans and nearly all Democrats voting against it.

With lawmakers continuing to search for a solution, the possibility of a government shutdown grows more imminent.