周二晚上，国会领导人最终发布了一项短期政府拨款法案，以避免本周末政府关门。按照目前的支出水平，该措施将为政府提供资金，直至2025年3月14日。这项措施还包括1004亿美元用于救灾，另外100亿美元用于对农民的经济援助。
共和党领导层最早可能在周三举行投票，但更有可能在周四举行。
共和党人最初承诺在周末公布法案文本，目的是在本周早些时候举行投票，但他们内部直言不讳的批评不断推迟谈判者敲定立法。虽然议长迈克·约翰逊表示愿意在法案文本公布后等待72小时进行投票，但议员们渴望在假期离开城镇，所以他很可能不会遵守这一规定。
周二早些时候，几名众议院共和党人因对约翰逊处理该法案的方式感到愤怒而愤然离开了早间会议。
密苏里州共和党众议员埃里克·伯利森(Eric Burlison)称议长在会议上提出的资助计划是“彻底的垃圾箱火灾”。
“我认为这是垃圾，”伯利森说，并补充说他已经向约翰逊转达了他的沮丧，约翰逊正在寻求在新的一年保留议长的木槌。
“我很失望，”当被问及约翰逊的未来时，伯利森说。“我认为他可以做得更好。他能更好地交流。事实上，我们今天还没有看到语言，我们应该在本周就此进行表决，这是不可接受的。”
南卡罗来纳州共和党众议员拉尔夫·诺曼说，他也对拨款计划感到失望。
“我不会投票支持CR[继续决议]，”他说。
德克萨斯州共和党众议员奇普·罗伊经常批评领导层的支出法案，他说:“这不是正确做生意的方式。”
“我们根本不在乎支出。只要你有一张空白支票，你就不能缩小政府。如果你不能缩小政府，你就不能自由地生活，”罗伊说。
当被问及是否会在一月份支持议长时，这位德克萨斯州议员没有回应。
佐治亚州共和党众议员里奇·麦考密克在离开会议时说，“我对整个解决方案感到失望，因为我认为，我们又一次只是增加了赤字，而没有任何明确的未来计划，”
在依靠民主党人获得两党支持以通过过去五项连续决议后，约翰逊拒绝了他的团队中出现的批评，强调该法案尚未发布。
“我有几个朋友，他们只会说任何年终拨款措施，”约翰逊说。“这不是公共汽车，好吗?这是一个小CR，我们不得不添加一些超出我们控制的东西。这些不是人为的灾难。这些都是联邦政府应该扮演的角色。”
尽管紧张局势日益加剧，但约翰逊表示乐观，认为他的议长职位将克服挑战，争取会议时间，直到共和党明年统一控制华盛顿。
“我不担心议长的投票。我们在统治。每个人都知道我们处境艰难。在这种情况下，我们尽了最大努力，”约翰逊说。“这些是立法者必须做出的艰难选择，但我们将一如既往地完成工作。我们会的。我们将继续前进，明年1月，我们将开始新的征程。”
随着政府资金将于本周末到期，约翰逊坚定地表示，众议院必须遵守72小时规则，一旦法案文本公布，时钟就开始投票。
“我相信72小时滚动规则，”约翰逊说。“我们致力于这一切。我们将履行这些义务，完成这项工作，然后我们将在第119届国会的联合政府中工作。它从一月份开始。”
'Total dumpster fire': Republicans fume over speaker's spending plan days from shutdown deadline
Congressional leaders on Tuesday evening finally released a short-term government funding bill to avert a shutdown at the end of this week. The measure will fund the government through March 14, 2025, at current spending levels. The measure also includes $100.4 billion for disaster relief and an additional $10 billion in economic assistance for farmers.
Republican leadership could hold a vote as soon as Wednesday but it’s more likely to occur on Thursday.
Republicans had initially promised to release bill text over the weekend with the aim of holding a vote early in the week, but outspoken criticism from within their ranks continually delayed negotiators from finalizing the legislation. While Speaker Mike Johnson expressed a preference to abide by waiting 72 hours after the bill text was posted to hold a vote, lawmakers are eager to get out of town for the holiday break, so it’s very likely he might not honor that rule.
Earlier Tuesdauy, several House Republicans stormed out of a morning conference meeting furious over Johnson’s handling of the bill.
Missouri Republican Rep. Eric Burlison called the speaker's funding plan presented at the conference meeting a "total dumpster fire.”
“I think it's garbage,” Burlison said, adding that he has conveyed his frustrations to Johnson, who is seeking to retain the speaker’s gavel in the new year.
“I'm disappointed,” Burlison said when asked about Johnson’s future. “I think that he can do better. He can communicate better. The fact that we haven't seen the language today and we're supposed to vote on it this week is unacceptable.”
South Carolina Republican Rep. Ralph Norman said he is frustrated with the funding plan as well.
“I’m not voting for the CR [continuing resolution],” he said.
Texas GOP Rep. Chip Roy, a frequent critic of the leadership’s spending bills, said, “This is not the way to do business right.”
“We’re just fundamentally unserious about spending. And as long as you got a blank check, you can’t shrink the government. If you can’t shrink the government, you can’t live free,” Roy said.
The Texas congressman did not respond when asked if he’ll support the speaker in January.
Georgia Republican Rep. Rich McCormick said as he left the meeting, “I'm frustrated with the whole approach to this, because I think, once again, we're just adding to the deficit without having any clear plan forward,”
After relying on Democrats for bipartisan support to pass the past five continuing resolutions, Johnson brushed off the criticism bubbling up within his ranks, stressing that the bill has not been released.
“I got a couple of friends who will just say that about any end of year funding measure,” Johnson said. “This is not an omnibus, OK? This is a small CR that we've had to add things to that were out of our control. These are not manmade disasters. These are things that the federal government has an appropriate role to do.”
Despite the growing tensions, Johnson expressed optimism that his speakership will overcome the challenges to buy the conference time until Republicans have unified control over Washington next year.
“I'm not worried about the speaker’s vote. We're governing. Everybody knows we have difficult circumstances. We're doing the very best we can under those circumstances,” Johnson said. “These are the hard choices that lawmakers have to make, but we will get the job done, as we always do. We will. We will keep moving forward, and in January, we have a new lease on all this.”
With government funding set to lapse at the end of the week, Johnson was steadfast that the House must abide by a 72-hour rule, where the clock starts to tee up a vote once bill text is released.
“I believe in the 72-hour roll rule,” Johnson said. “We're committed to all of that. We're going to take care of these obligations and get this done, and then we're going to go to work in unified government in the 119th Congress. It begins in January.”
