Plenty of House Democrats are unhappy with the Senate’s deal to fund shuttered government agencies. Plenty of House conservatives dislike it, too. And somehow, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has to navigate competing factions — on different votes — and get the bill passed to reopen the majority of government as soon as possible.
Thus far, Johnson’s strategy — leaning on President Donald Trump to pressure reluctant conservatives on a procedural vote, then relying on a combination of Republican and Democratic support to pass the underlying bill — appears to be working.
Just getting to this point, however, has required Johnson to float major concessions to conservatives, including the longshot idea of changing the Senate filibuster.
The Senate deal to fund the government — a package that includes the remaining five full-year funding bills plus a two-week stopgap for the Department of Homeland Security — has drawn complaints from both parties.
But Johnson, now facing a one-vote margin after he swore in the new Texas Democratic Rep. Christian Menefee on Monday, has begun to secure support from hardline conservatives who swear their party is getting a raw deal.
That support could just be enough to end the partial government shutdown, which has currently left roughly four-fifths of federal agencies with a funding lapse.
On Monday night, Trump convinced Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., a top holdout against the funding deal, by assuring her that Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., would consider changing the Senate’s use of the filibuster. Luna said Trump assured her that Thune is considering insisting on a standing filibuster, meaning the minority party would have to actively stand and talk on the Senate floor to hold up a bill.
Luna said the standing filibuster could clear a path in the Senate for a Republican-backed measure to require proof of citizenship to vote — which is already the law — called the SAVE Act.
Of course, Trump’s secondhand promises of modifying the filibuster are far from concrete. But as is customary with Trump-loving Republicans, they’re looking for any offramp from their hardline opposition after the president forcefully came out for the bill on Monday.
Luna told reporters Thune is “very patriotic for even being willing to engage in this.”
For now, it’s enough for Luna to support a key procedural vote to fund the government, she told reporters.
Johnson aims to flip enough conservative opponents to send the funding package to Trump’s desk by Tuesday.
“I think we’ll get it done by tomorrow,” the speaker told MS NOW Monday afternoon.
One conservative House Republican, who requested anonymity to discuss the internal deliberations, told MS NOW around seven or eight GOP lawmakers were considering voting against the rule as of Monday evening.
But other conservatives are following Johnson’s lead, even if they’re not happy about it.
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., a key conservative on the House Rules Committee, lambasted the deal, telling reporters it’s “a joke.” And yet minutes later, he said he’d support the rule setting up floor consideration for the bill.
“I will reluctantly vote for the rule and give them a stupid 10 days,” Norman said, referring to the Feb. 13 deadline to fund the Department of Homeland Security.
Johnson needs all the support he can get from conservatives, after Democrats refused to help him pass the bill through a fast-tracked process that requires a two-thirds majority.
Instead, Democrats aim to keep the pressure on Johnson until they get a clearer roadmap on how lawmakers will enact changes at DHS. That insistence could tank the broader deal to fund the government while continuing immigration negotiations for another two weeks. But Democrats seem supportive of the play call.
“I think we have more leverage now than we will in two weeks,” Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., told MS NOW, adding that he hopes Democrats are unified in their opposition.
While it’s clear there are some Democrats who disagree with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and his decision to oppose the bill, Democrats could still functionally derail the legislation if they all vote against the rule and are joined by a handful of Republicans. Even Democrats who support the funding deal appear ready to oppose the procedural vote, if only to embarrass Johnson. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said she’d support the funding package, which she said gives Democrats time and leverage in immigration enforcement negotiations, but she said she would oppose the rule. “It’s the majority’s responsibility to pass rules,” DeLauro told MS NOW. “It’s not the minority’s responsibility. So that’s something they have to count their votes on.” Other Democrats say they’ll oppose the Senate-led proposal all the way to the end. Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, wrote a letter to his colleagues on Sunday urging them to vote against the bill. “Democrats must act now to demand real changes that protect our communities before Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) receive another dollar in funding,” he wrote. Trump and Thune have urged House Republicans to pass the measure and avoid a prolonged shutdown. Even as conservatives angled to add voter ID requirements to the measure, Trump urged House members to send it to his desk “WITHOUT DELAY,” he wrote on Truth Social. “There can be NO CHANGES at this time.” Thune also urged conservatives to accept the funding deal for now and take a later vote on the SAVE Act. “We’ll get a vote on it,” Thune said of the conservative proposal. “That’ll happen soon enough.” But even if the House can pass the funding bill and reopen the government on Tuesday, the more difficult task awaits: Landing a bipartisan compromise on DHS reforms, an issue that has become a political lightning rod following the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of federal officers in Minneapolis. “It won’t be any easier,” Thune said last week of the upcoming negotiations over DHS funding. Last week, Schumer laid out three core demands for the DHS negotiations: Ending roving patrols and strengthening rules for the use of warrants, establishing a uniform code of conduct for federal agents, and ordering officers to remove their masks and turn on their body cameras. Senate Republicans were quick to reject those requests last week, describing many of them as unreasonable. House Republicans quickly followed suit on Monday. “They’ll take the two weeks to make demands on dismantling ICE,” Norman said. “That’s not going to happen.”
Jack Fitzpatrick covers Congress for MS NOW. He previously reported for Bloomberg Government, Morning Consult and National Journal. He has bachelor's and master's degrees from Arizona State University.
Mychael Schnell is a reporter for MS NOW. Recommended
