The following article by Melanie Zanona and Jordain Carney was posted on the Hill website December 20, 2017:
House Republican leaders are moving ahead with a stopgap spending bill to keep the government open for a few more weeks, even as they struggled on Wednesday to secure the necessary GOP votes for the plan.
Members of the House Freedom Caucus and the House Armed Services Committee huddled separately with Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) late Wednesday night to voice opposition to leadership’s plan to avoid a government shutdown, which will take place Friday at midnight if Congress doesn’t intervene.
In an encouraging sign for Ryan and his top lieutenants, Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) said several members of his group flipped from “no” to “yes” after striking a deal with leadership on a temporary reauthorization of a surveillance program that is also included in the tentative spending patch.
“I think there are a lot of people who are going to spend their time tonight really thinking about whether or not this is the hill we’re going to die on,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla), a member of Armed Services Committee, said coming out of Ryan’s office. “We just had this great moment on tax reform.”
“I think they’re going to get the votes,” he added.
Continue reading “Trouble brewing as GOP struggles with spending bill votes”