Trump's gift from Congress: Funding fight in first 100 days
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Leaders on Capitol Hill are nearing a deal to avoid a December holiday government shutdown. The likeliest outcome is a short-term spending stopgap to late February or early March, sources tell Axios.
Why it matters: This would set a new deadline during Trump's first 100 days and quickly test whether House Republicans will rubber-stamp or oppose a Trump-endorsed budget.
- Trump's OMB nominee Russell Vought has urged Republicans to kick the spending fight to 2025 to give Trump maximum leverage.
- Outgoing Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) had been pushing for Congress to fully fund the government with an omnibus package by the end of the year. Schumer won't get that wish.
- Trump's focus seems elsewhere. Monday night, he blasted out new Day 1 plans for tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada.
But narrow GOP majorities shift that leverage over to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries if Democratic votes are needed to avoid a shutdown, now or later.
- House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said "the objective will be to get the job done as soon as soon as possible," with the Louisiana Republican telling reporters last week he'd like "to get it [their spending bills] done in January."
- He'll work with Trump's top congressional liaison James Braid, a former House and Senate staffer.
Zoom in: Leaders are also still negotiating the overall cost of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which authorizes spending levels for the Defense Department.
- The big sticking point: The Senate version of the bill authorizes $918 billion in spending, versus the House's $884 billion.
- No major pieces of legislation are expected to be attached to the must-pass NDAA but nothing is final, sources tell Axios.
Zoom out: Any long-term government funding solution has to make it through the House with an incredibly thin Republican majority.
- Trump and GOP leaders can only afford to lose a handful of Republican votes — now and in the new Congress, starting Jan. 3.
- It could lead to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries having to deliver Democratic votes to stave off a government shutdown, whether that happens now or later.
