Illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios
House GOP leaders are pushing for a yearlong continuing resolution as the most viable option for keeping the government open as the March 14 funding deadline looms.
Why it matters: A CR through the end of FY25 would likely include a clean extension of expiring health programs, without the opportunity for add-ons like changes to PBMs' business practices.
What they're saying: "It looks as though [a yearlong CR] is becoming inevitable at this point, and that's because the Democrats are placing completely unreasonable conditions on the negotiations," Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Wednesday.
House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole said that his staff was already working on a variety of options, including a short-term and yearlong CR.
- Cole said that funding discussions were at an impasse over Democrats' insistence for language limiting President Trump's ability to impound appropriated funding.
- "A Republican Senate and Republican House are not going to limit what a Republican president can do, particularly when he has to sign the bill," Cole said.
Democrats aren't ready to show their hand yet. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters Thursday that negotiations are ongoing.
- "In terms of any subsequent consideration of a yearlong continuing resolution, that's a conversation that we'll have at the appropriate moment with the entirety of the House Democratic caucus," he said.
A yearlong CR means likely a completely clean extension for health programs, House Appropriations Labor-HHS subcommittee Chair Robert Aderholt told Axios.
- "There could be some anomalies that are added in there … but it'll basically just be extending them out from the previous administration," he said.
Reality check: Republicans would still have to overcome several problems to enact the yearlong CR.
- Some fiscal conservatives tend never to vote for CRs, making the whip count for the Republican side untenable.
- And Democrats seem unlikely to want to help Republicans out of a shutdown bind without getting something in exchange.
- "I hope we don't shut down," Cole said. "But you know, we're running out of time."
