Spending work resumes in the House ahead of deadline to fund the government

Newly elected Speaker Mike Johnson met with President Biden at the White House on Thursday with other congressional leaders on the president’s request for more wartime aid for Israel and Ukraine, with Congress facing another funding deadline three weeks away to avoid a partial government shutdown. 

Mr. Biden has requested Congress to consider a $106 billion emergency aid package that includes funding for Israel, Ukraine and the U.S.-Mexico border. House Republicans, including Mr. Johnson, have grown wary of more aid to Ukraine, but want to move on an aid package for Israel as soon as possible. 

Emerging from the White House meeting, Mr. Johnson told reporters that the session with Mr. Biden was “productive.”

“I enjoyed my visit with the president,” said the Louisiana Republican.

Rep. John Rutherford of Florida told The Washington Times that he believed that Israel aid would move fast through the House, but doubted that conservatives would consider Mr. Biden’s proposal as a whole package.

“I think they’re going to have to split it,” Mr. Rutherford said. “Each of those initiatives needs to stand on its own and we need to explain it to the American public, and if we can’t do that adequately, then the chips fall where they may.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat, also attended the session.

The spending fight, which was paused after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s historic ousting earlier this month, resumed with Mr. Johnson tackling the familiar funding challenges in his first full day on the job.

Lawmakers passed one regular spending bill Thursday. But the three weeks that were needed to replace Mr. McCarthy, California Republican, have drained valuable time to pass the remaining spending bills before the Nov. 17 deadline to fund the government.

So far, the House has advanced four spending bills out of 12. Two have yet to go through committee, but lawmakers are floating an idea to shotgun them straight to the House Rules Committee and then to the floor for a vote.

One of the biggest challenges facing lawmakers is beating the deadline extension that Mr. McCarthy gave them, and that ultimately led to his removal as speaker. Mr. Johnson has laid out a fast-paced plan to advance spending bills that also included a possible stopgap funding bill that could last until April.

And he may not have to deal with the same level of rebellion that eventually torpedoed his predecessor’s time as speaker.

“I have been told by a number of my friends in the Freedom Caucus that they do expect they’ll provide Mike Johnson more grace than they gave Kevin McCarthy,” said Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota. “I think that’s going to give him a little more runway to try to deal with the next three months, two months.”

Members of the Freedom Caucus could be warming to a stopgap bill now that Mr. Johnson is at the helm. But some are sticking to their guns. Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona told The Washington Times that having Mr. Johnson leading the way would not change his mind about supporting a stopgap bill.

There also aren’t deep-seated trust issues with Mr. Johnson like there were with Mr. McCarthy.

“I think that’s where we’re going to find out where the rubber meets the road with Speaker Johnson,” Mr. Crane said. “I personally think that things are going to be more transparent, and he’s actually going to try and do what he says he’s going to do.”