House to vote on funding stopgap on Tuesday

The House is set to vote Tuesday on a funding stopgap measure to prevent a government shutdown, pushing the deadline for an agreement from Nov. 21 to Dec. 20.

The continuing resolution (CR) comes as lawmakers continue to battle over the parameters for new spending bills, with the largest controversies centered around President Trump’s proposed border wall.

Top appropriators are negotiating over how to allocate funds among 12 spending bills, aiming to strike a deal by Wednesday.

The CR would allow them to put off final decisions about how to deal with the wall, an issue many lawmakers believe will drag out the funding talks and require yet another stopgap into the new year.

Democrats are expected to post the text of the continuing resolution and bring it to the House Rules Committee Monday evening.

Some conservative groups, such as Club for Growth, have already decried the Christmas deadline as harmful to Trump’s negotiating position.

“Why in the world would @realDonaldTrump allow Congress to corner him toward a potential Christmas Shutdown? #VETO” the group’s vice president of government affairs, Scott Parkinson, tweeted Monday.

The Appropriators have the CR to Dec. 20 ready to go & they’re still hiding it from other members.

The current CR expires on Nov. 21.

Why in the world would @realDonaldTrump allow Congress to corner him toward a potential Christmas Shutdown? #VETO https://t.co/LvfYTWJH6T pic.twitter.com/kFTBMGJrtk

— Scott T. Parkinson (@ScottTParkinson) November 18, 2019

A presidential veto of the CR would likely lead to a shutdown.

Last year, a 35-day shutdown began when Trump threatened to veto a CR over wall funding just ahead of Christmas.