Congress set to return next week with spending battle brewing

By Lauren Fox, CNN

Washington (CNN) — Congress is poised for yet another funding showdown this fall as Republicans and Democrats face off over spending levels ahead of the October deadline and as both sides already appear to be digging in just two months before the election.

It’s a dynamic that comes as House Speaker Mike Johnson will once again have to manage the demands of his right flank with a narrow majority and as the Louisiana Republican will face his colleagues in yet another leadership race in the months to come.

When lawmakers return next week, they’ll have just 13 days in session to find a path forward. Sources close to the process told CNN the speaker is eyeing a plan to bring legislation to the floor in the first few days of session that would fund the government into the spring – known as a continuing resolution, or CR – then attach a controversial bill that would bar noncitizens from voting in US elections. It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in US elections. The House passed the bill, known as the SAVE Act, in July, with five Democrats in tight races supporting the measure.

Senate Democrats are warning it’s a nonstarter in their chamber.

“As we have said each time we’ve had a CR, the only way to get things done is in a bipartisan way and that is what has happened every time,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, said in a statement Tuesday.

It’s also a major hurdle for Republicans to pass the bill on their own. Despite the fact the conservative House Freedom Caucus has taken the position that it wants to move forward with a short-term continuing resolution that includes the SAVE Act, there are still Republicans who may not vote for a short-term spending bill at all. Some of those members would prefer to move bills individually, despite the fact that House Republicans could pass only a handful of the 12 appropriations bills this summer, with leadership scrambling before recess because the measures didn’t have enough GOP votes.

Conservative GOP Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, author of the SAVE Act, acknowledged that while he and his Freedom Caucus colleagues despise continuing resolutions, they cannot “let perfect get in the way here.”

“I don’t like a lot of the crap that would be in a continuing resolution, but the upside is it’s a spending freeze at current levels,” Roy said Tuesday on the “War Room” podcast. “We attach the SAVE Act. We go browbeat Democrats if they want to oppose only citizen voting, and we kick the funding into a Trump administration. It is not perfect, but it’s a damn good approach heading into the election.”

For Johnson, running the play early could give the speaker room to maneuver and satisfy his right flank at a critical inflection point in his speakership even if Republicans cannot pass it.

While leadership staff remains in communication, major negotiations aren’t taking place, and there are still a big sticking points. But sources on all sides are emphatic that no one is looking for a shutdown.

“I don’t think any of the big four leaders want a shutdown right before the election,” one senior senate GOP aide said. “Johnson has his own internal dynamics, but I don’t think there is a desire from anyone to push us into a shutdown.”

On the list of issues to iron out: Republicans and Democrats are still not settled on for how long the continuing resolution should go. Democrats would prefer a short-term spending bill into December, kicking the major negotiation until after the election but also clearing the deck before a new president would step into the Oval Office in January. Many Republicans, meanwhile, are looking to avoid the holiday spending fight. Pushing the fight to March could also benefit Johnson, who could anger his right flank right before a leadership race if he is forced to cut a bipartisan spending deal with Democrats in December.

Congress will also need to decide on spending levels. Democrats are pushing to move ahead with spending that mirrors the Fiscal Responsibility Act’s levels and the side deals originally agreed upon between the White House and Republicans in the spring of 2023. But Republicans want to cut funding, so the so-called side deals aren’t included.

Democrats also warn that lawmakers will need to deal with disaster relief, especially if Republicans punt the next funding fight until March. Lawmakers must also address funding shortfalls for two veterans programs. Republicans and Democrats will need to figure out ahead of September 20 how to patch a $3 billion funding shortfall for veterans’ pensions and other benefits. They will also need to increase funding for veterans’ health care by $12 billion in the next funding bill after the program’s eligibility requirements were expanded.

For now, Democrats are taking a wait-and-see approach to see whether Johnson can even pass legislation to fund the government until March that includes the SAVE Act. If he can’t, Democrats believe they will have much more room to negotiate a clean deal that kicks the next showdown until December.

CNN’s Morgan Rimmer and Haley Talbot contributed to this report.

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