House Republicans are eyeing three votes on Saturday as the clock ticks toward a government shutdown and they continue to scramble for the votes within their own party to support any funding agreement.
While they work on that, the GOP is expected to tee up votes on extending the authorization of the Federal Aviation Administration — which expires at midnight Sunday along with government funding — as well as an extension of the National Flood Insurance Program and legislation that would ensure military pay isn’t disrupted by a shutdown. The consideration of those three bills was confirmed by multiple people familiar with the House Republican discussions.
A fourth proposal that would ensure Border Patrol pay during any shutdown may also come up after Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) raised the topic during a Saturday conference meeting.
All of those measures would need Democratic support — likely significant levels of it — to pass, and it’s not clear whether the Senate would advance any of the proposals before the shutdown deadline.
House Democratic leaders are still formulating their whip plan for Saturday, but are largely expected to vote for all three measures to make a shutdown less painful. Even so, Democrats worry that those steps would ultimately make a shutdown much longer and harder to end.
Sarah Ferris contributed.
