House Republican leaders expected to bypass GOP opposition by relying heavily on Democrats to keep government open

House Republicans are expected to bypass mounting GOP opposition to a spending bill to keep the government running into December by using a procedural floor move that would rely heavily on Democrats to pass the legislation and avoid a government shutdown.

House Republicans are expected to bypass mounting GOP opposition to a spending bill to keep the government running into December by using a procedural floor move that would rely heavily on Democrats to pass the legislation and avoid a government shutdown. The House Rules Committee stripped the government spending bill from consideration Monday night, forcing House GOP leadership to tee up the spending bill under a procedure known as suspension of the rules, which requires a two-thirds majority vote to pass. Relying on Democrats to overcome their narrow, divided majority and keep the government open has been a regular occurrence for Republicans this Congress, and was the exact maneuver that got former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy ousted from his job. Republicans have long known they’d need to rely on Democrats to pass the shutdown-averting measure this time around, but with Democratic votes now likely to vastly outnumber the GOP supporters, House Speaker Mike Johnson finds himself in a risky position with his conference. GOP Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana told CNN, “It is disappointing. We have a Republican majority. We should be cutting spending.” On if Johnson has mishandled the situation, Banks added, “He had an opportunity to put a spending bill on the floor that cut wasteful spending, we have had the majority for two years, we haven’t seen that happen. That was my hope with a Republican majority, but we are going to finish the Republican majority without cutting spending and that is why I am voting no.” GOP Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, who is also against the clean government spending extension, stopped short of calling Johnson’s leadership a mistake.