WASHINGTON \u2014 Speaker Mike Johnson and GOP leaders are discussing the possibility of not coming back to Washington next week, at least until there is a spending deal to put on the floor, according to sources familiar with the planning.<\/p>\n
No decisions have been made, and members would be on call to return to the Capitol with 24 hours\u2019 notice before any votes are scheduled on an agreement negotiated between leaders in both chambers. The mere possibility that the House won\u2019t return next week raises more questions about lawmakers\u2019 ability to avoid a partial government shutdown starting March 2, after next Friday\u2019s deadline for four of the 12 annual bills.<\/p>\n
The House had been scheduled to reconvene Wednesday, with an expectation that spending bills would be on the floor shortly thereafter. But talks have been moving slowly on key issues that were kicked up to leadership to decide, despite progress in talks between House and Senate appropriators on much of the bills\u2019 substance.<\/p>\n
For their part, House GOP leaders expect to be in Washington next week to continue negotiations with the Senate over a four-bill appropriations package whose funding expires March 1. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., is expected to make an announcement on appropriations Sunday night, but House sources downplayed expectations that an agreement will be reached by then.<\/p>\n
While lawmakers hoped to roll out an initial package of bills Sunday night, according to a source familiar with the negotiations, substantial differences between the parties remain. Instead, some sources said if there is an agreement, the legislation could be posted as early as Monday evening or Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n
Rank-and-file lawmakers have largely been in the dark on the status of negotiations. House Republicans are set to hear from Johnson, R-La., during a Friday night conference call on the state of play, according to sources familiar with the plan.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers need to pass either full-year fiscal 2024 appropriations or another short-term stopgap measure by the end of the day March 1 to avoid a partial government shutdown affecting agencies covered by the Agriculture, Energy-Water, Military Construction-VA and Transportation-HUD bills.<\/p>\n
Appropriators have been waiting on decisions from Johnson and Schumer on policy riders, which could allow them to move forward on the first package of bills. Republicans have been pushing for a variety of provisions on hot-button topics like guns, abortion and diversity initiatives that Democrats say they won\u2019t accept.<\/p>\n
The second tranche, which includes the remaining eight spending bills, includes more contentious policy areas that could be harder to figure out ahead of the March 8 deadline. Sources said among those final eight bills, negotiators have made a lot of progress on, and are closer to wrapping up, the Interior-Environment and Defense measures.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers are considering a stopgap spending measure for some, if not all, of the bills to March 22, which would give appropriators more time to work out the remaining issues, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.<\/p>\n
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