House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was forced to scrap a vote on the spending bill just hours before it was set to go to the House floor after a number of House Republicans came out in opposition to it, all but guaranteeing its failure. Now, leadership is back to the drawing board, as Democrats argue the GOP needs to stop catering to its right flank and centrist Republicans worry it’s too close to an election to play with a government shutdown.

“We’re going to have to pass the CR. It’s just a reality,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) told reporters Thursday. “So to me, you know, yes, negotiate. But let’s move it along here. Because at the end of the day, we have an election, and we’re not shutting the government down.”

Rank-and-file GOP members met with Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) and Deputy Whip Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) on Wednesday to discuss paths forward, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) told the Washington Examiner.

“I think they were just taking our ideas and going back to leadership,” the congressman said.

Burchett was one of several Republicans who said earlier this week he was a “no” on the continuing resolution despite it having the Republicans’ Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, which would require proof of citizenship for voter registration. Although the addition was made to appease some of his most hard-line members, the proposal was rejected by some of those very same Republicans who demanded including spending cuts even at the risk of a shutdown.

“We have one duty up here, one constitutional duty, and that’s to pass a dadgum budget,” Burchett told reporters.

Some Democrats are confused about why hard-line Republicans are pressing back against the spending deal numbers and adding the SAVE Act.

“We are a couple of weeks away from shutdown, and at least I thought we had a basic agreement on the numbers based on previous agreements, and yet they insist on adding all this garbage to it,” House Rules Committee ranking member Jim McGovern (D-MA) told the Washington Examiner. 

McGovern said that although it was “enjoyable to watch” the fighting at the Republican conference, he understood that the longer it takes to pass a spending bill, the more it will affect people.

“What it’s resulting in is getting us closer and closer to a government shutdown, which will hurt our economy, and a lot of people will get hurt as a result of it,” McGovern said of the GOP infighting. “So, I mean, you got to bring a clean CR to the floor. Give us enough time to negotiate a long-term deal. And let’s just do it. Instead of ‘anti-woke week’ next week, they ought to be figuring out how to keep the government running.”

“I think the speaker needs to grow a spine and just say, look, we have to do the people’s business,” McGovern added. “This isn’t that hard. Let’s get it done.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) told reporters that this is a “Republican fight” and that is the “story of this term.”

“I think that for the American people, it’s important to understand that even taking out any sort of partisan opinion that you have, if you want to cast your vote, you should look at which party is able to govern and get things done,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Republicans have not been able to fully fund our government in two years. They have not been able to pass any significant legislation into law yet, despite there being plenty of opportunities.”

The continuing resolution that Johnson pulled Wednesday would have extended funding to March of next year. Republicans have urged a continuing resolution that delays the funding process until next year when they hope former President Donald Trump is sworn in for a second term. The former president waded into the continuing resolution fight in a post to Truth Social this week, arguing that the GOP should not fund the government unless the legislation includes “assurances on Election Security.”

Democrats are hoping for a spending deal in this calendar year, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) saying it is the best path forward. 

“We want to get it resolved this calendar year because that’s the only practical way to meet the needs of the American people,” Jeffries said at his weekly press conference Thursday, highlighting cuts to veterans healthcare, the military, and the elimination of Social Security Administration in this current spending proposal. “This is not complicated.”

Jeffries pointed to previous spending battles over the last decade, such as when the GOP shut the government down in the 1990s, 2013, and 2018. Infighting over spending between hard-line Republicans and leadership in Congress has brought the government to the brink of a shutdown in recent months. In 2023, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s decision to work with Democrats to pass a spending bill cost him the gavel.

“All of these shutdowns hurt everyday Americans,” Jeffries said. “So they’ve now done it three different times to try to enact their extreme agenda. Because the commonality is it’s done by Republicans, why? Because they have put on the table an extreme ransom demand that they want to jam down the throats of the American people.”

“So, it’s not hyperbole, hysteria, or a hypothetical to suggest that House Republicans may try to shut down the government,” Jeffries added. “It’s the reality.”

All eyes are on Johnson and leadership to see how they will press forward with the continuing resolution. Jeffries said he spoke briefly with the speaker Wednesday night on a path ahead, but no formal discussions on the subject have occurred. With a four-seat GOP majority, a spending deal that doesn’t get a majority of Democratic support is likely to fail, given that many hard-liners typically vote against continuing resolutions no matter what.

“We’re in a divided government,” Lawler said. “Of course, there’s going to have to be an agreement between Republicans and Democrats. So yes, there’s going to be Democrats in the House that vote for a final bill that has been negotiated with Senate Democrats. It’s just a reality.”

“You have to at least engage with your colleagues,” the New York Republican added. “Yes, there’s going to be people that don’t vote for the final product, and if they’re unwilling to pass an initial offering toward a negotiation, then you move on without them.”